SITY 


OF 


THE 


SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


LONDON  :    raiNTED    BY 

8POTTISWOODE    AND    CO.,    NEW-STREET    .SQUARE 

AND    FARLIAMBNT    STREET 


THE 


SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD 


BY 


DE.   GEOEGE    HAETWIG, 

AUTIIOn  OF 

THE  SEA   AND   ITS   LIVING.    WONDERS,'   'THE  TROPICAL   WORLD,'   'TILE   POLAR  WORLD, 
AND  'THE  HARMONIES  OF  NATURE.' 


WJTJJ     THREE    MAPS    AND    NUMEROUS    ENGRAVINGS    VN     WUUJJ. 


»   »  a        j 


»     ••>    A  '  *  -         ^       . 


NEW    YORK: 

SCBIBNEE,     WELFOED,    AND     CO. 

1871. 


PEE FACE. 


"VTATURE  displays  her  wonders  not  only  in  the 
•***  starry  heavens  or  in  the  boundless  variety  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life  on  the  surface  of  our  earth. 
In  the  dark  regions  underground  she  likewise  shows 
us  much  that  is  remarkable  or  beautiful,  or  carries 
on  gigantic  operations,  which  are  sometimes  beneficent 
and  sometimes  disastrous  to  mankind. 

There  lie  concealed  the  mysterious  laboratories  of 
fire,  which  reveal  to  us  their  existence  in  earthquakes 
and  volcanic  explosions.  There,  in  successive  strata, 
repose  the  remains  of  extinct  animals  and  plants. 
There  many  a  wonderful  cavern  may  be  seen,  with  its 
fantastic  stalactites,  its  rushing  waters,  and  its  noble 
halls.  There  have  been  deposited  the  rich  stores  of 
mineral  wealth — the  metals,  the  coals,  the  salt,  the 
sulphur,  &c. — without  whose  aid  man  would  never 
have  been  more  than  a  savage. 

The  aim  of  the  present  work  has  been  to  describe  the 
wonders  of  this  hidden  world  in  their  various  relations 

756922 


VI  PREFACE. 

to  man,  now  raising  him  to  wealth,  and  now  dooming 
him  to  destruction. 

The  author  trusts  that  he  may  have  succeeded  in 
giving  a  sketch  of  the  phenomena  resulting  from  the 
action  of  subterranean  forces,  which,  with  his  account 
of  the  wonders  of  the  sea,  of  the  tropics,  and  of  the 
frozen  regions,  may  impart  to  the  reader  a  fair  idea  of 
the  history  and  present  condition  of  the  wonderful 
world  in  which  we  live. 


Salon,  near  Ludwigsbueg  : 
July  6,  1871. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I. 

GEOLOGICAL   REVOLUTIONS. 


The  Eternal  Strife  between  Water  and  Fire — Strata  of  Aqueous  Origin — Tabular 
View  of  their  Chronological  Succession — Enormous  Time  required  for  their 
Formation — Igneous  Action — Metamorphic  Rocks — Upheaval  and  Depression — 
Fossils — Uninterrupted  Succession  of  Organic  Life     ....      Page  1 


CHAPTER  II. 

FOSSILS. 

General  Remarks  — Eozoon  Canadense  — Trilobites  —  Brachiopods  — Pterichthys 
Milleri  —  Oldest  Reptiles —Wonderful  Preservation  of  Colour  in  Petrified 
Shells  —  Primaeval  Corals  and  Sponges  —  Sea-lilies  —  Orthoceratites  and 
Ammonites  —  Belemnites  —  Ichthyosaurus  and  Plesiosaurus  —  Pterodactyli  — 
Iguanodon  —  Tertiary  Quadrupeds  —  Dinotherium  —  Colossochelys  Atlas  — 
Megatherium  —  Mylodon  —  Glyptodon  —  Mammoth  —  Mastodon  —  Sivatherium 
Giganteum — Fossil  Ripple-marks,  Rain-drops,  and  Footprints — Harmony  has 
reigned  from  the  beginning        ......         ,         ,         .       8 

CHAPTER  III. 

SUBTERRANEAN    HEAT. 

Zone  of  invariable  Temperature — Increasing  Temperature  of  the  Earth  at  a 
greater  Depth — Proofs  found  in  Mines  and  Artesian  Wells,  in  Hot  Springs 
and  Volcanic  Eruptions — The  whole  Earth  probably  at  one  time  a  fluid 
mass 31 


CHAPTER  IV. 
SUBTERRANEAN   UPHEAVALS   AND   DEPRESSIONS. 

Oscillations  of  the  Earth's  Surface  taking  place  in  the  present  day — First 
ascertained  in  Sweden — Examples  of  Contemporaneous  Upheaval  and  Depression 
in  France  and  England —Probable  Onuses  of  the  Phenomenon    .         .         .31 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

SUBTERRANEAN  WATERS  AND  ARTESIAN  WELLS. 

Subterranean  Distribution  of  the  Waters — Admirable  Provisions  of  Nature — 
Hydrostatic  Laws  regulating  the  Flow  of  Springs — Thermal  Springs— Inter- 
mittent Springs — The  Gey  sir — Bunsen's  Theory — Artesian  "Wells — Le  Puits 
de  G-renelle — Deep  Borings — Various  Uses  of  Artesian  "Wells— Artesian  Wells 
in  Venice  and  in  the  Desert  of  Sahara        ......    Page  39 

CHAPTER   VI. 

VOLCANOES. 

Volcanic  Mountains — Extinct  and  active  Craters — Their  Size — Dangerous  Crater- 
explorations — Dr.  Judd  in  the  Kilauea  Pit — Extinct  Craters — Their  Beauty — 
The  Crater  of  Mount  Vultur  in  Apulia — Volcanoes  still  constantly  forming — 
Jorullo  and  Isalco — Submarine  Volcanoes — Sabrina  and  Graham's  Island — 
Santorin — Number  of  Volcanoes — Their  Distribution — Volcanoes  in  a  constant 
state  of  eruption — Stromboli — Eumaroles — The  Lava-lakes  of  Kilauea — Volcanic 
Paroxysms — Column  of  Smoke  and  Ashes — Detonations — Explosion  of  Cones — 
Disastrous  Effects  of  Showers  of  Ashes  and  Lapilli — Mud  Streams — Fish 
disgorged  from  Volcanic  Caverns — Eruptions  of  Lava  —  Parasitic  Cones  — 
Phenomena  attending  the  Flow  of  a  Lava  Stream — Baron  Papalardo — Meeting 
of  Lava  and  Water — Scoriae — Lava  and  Ice — Vast  Dimensions  of  several  Lava 
Streams — Scenes  of  Desolation — Volcanoes  considered  as  Safety-valves — Probable 
Causes  of  Volcanoes  .         . 53 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DESTRUCTION    OF    HERCULANEUM   AND    POMPEII. 

State  of  Vesuvius  before  the  eruption  in  the  year  79  a.c— Spartacus — Premonitory 
Earthquakes — Letter  of  Pliny  the  Younger  to  Tacitus,  relating  the  death  of  his 
uncle,  Pliny  the  Elder — Benevolence  of  the  Emperor  Titus — Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii  buried  under  a  muddy  alluvium — Herculaneum  first  discovered  in 
1713 81 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GAS    SPRINGS    AND    MUD    VOLCANOES. 

Carbonic- acid  Springs — Grotto  del  Cane — The  Valley  of  Death  in  Java- -Exagge- 
rated Descriptions — Carburetted  Hydrogen  Springs — The  Holy  Fires  of  Baku  — 
Description  of  the  Temple — Mud  Volcanoes — The  Macaluba  in  Sicily — Crimean 
Mud  Volcanoes— Volcanic  Origin  of  Mud  Volcanoes  .         .  .88 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER     IX. 

EARTHQUAKES. 

Extent  of  Misery  inflicted  by  great  Earthquakes — Earthquake  Regions — Earth- 
quakes in  England — Great  Number  of  Earthquakes — Vertical  and  Undulatory 
Shocks — Warnings  of  Earthquakes — Sounds  attending  Earthquakes — Remark- 
able Displacements  of  Objects — Extent  and  Force  of  Seismic  Wave  Motion — 
Effects  of  Earthquakes  on  the  Sea — Enormous  Waves  on  Coasts — Oscillations  of 
the  Ocean — Fissures,  Landslips,  and  shattering  Falls  of  Rock  caused  by  Earth- 
quakes —Causes  of  Earthquakes — Probable  Depth  of  Focus — Opinions  of  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  and  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope — Impressions  produced  on  Man  and 
Animals  by  Earthquakes Page  97 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    GREAT    EARTHQUAKE    OF    LISBON. 

A  dreadful  All  Saints'  Day — The  Victims  of  a  Minute — Report  of  an  Eye-witness 
— Conflagration — Banditti — Pombal  brings  Chaos  into  Order — Intrigues  of  the 
Jesuits — Damages  caused  by  the  Earthquake  in  other  places  ;  at  Cadiz  ;  in 
Barbary — Widespread  Alarm — Remarks  of  Goethe  on  the  Earthquake      .     114 


CHAPTER   XI. 

LANDSLIPS. 

Igneous  and  Aqueous  Causes  of  Landslips — Fall  of  the  Diablerets  in  1714  and 
1749 — Escape  of  a  Peasant  from  his  living  Tomb — Vitaliano  Donati  on  the  Fall 
of  a  Mountain  near  Sallenches — The  Destruction  of  Goldau  in  1806 — Wonderful 
Preservation  of  a  Child — Burial  of  Velleja  and  Tauretunum,  of  Plurs  and 
Scilano — Landslip  near  Axmouth  in  Dorsetshire — Falling  in  of  Cavern-roofs— 
Dollinas  and  Jamas  in  Carniola  and  Dalmatia — Bursting  of  Bogs— Crateriform 
Hollows  in  the  Eif el 121 


CHAPTER   XII. 

ON   CAVES    IN    GENERAL. 

Their  various  Forms — Natural  Tunnels— The  Ventanillas  of  Gualgayoc— Eimeo — 
Torgatten — Hole  in  the  Miirtschenstock — The  Trebich  Cave — Grotto  of  Anti- 
paros — Vast  Dimensions  of  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg  and  of  the  Mammoth 
Cave  —  Discovery  of  Baumann's  Cave — Limestone  Caves— Causes  of  their 
Excavation— Stalactites  and  Stalagmites — Their  Origin — Variety  of  Forms — ■ 
Marine  Caves — Shetland — Fingal's  Cave  —  The  Azure  Cave  —  Cave  under 
Bonifacio— Grotta  di  Nettuno,  near  Syracuse — The  Bufador  of  Papa  Luna — 
Volcanic  Caves — The  Fossa  della  Palomba — Caves  of  San  Miguel— The 
Surtshellir       .         .         . 133 


X  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

CAVE    RIVERS. 

The  Fountain  of  Vaucluso — The  Fontaine-sans-fond— The  Katabothra  in  Morea  — 
Subterranean  Rivers  in  Carniola — Subterranean  Navigation  of  the  Poik  in  the 
Cave  of  Planina — '  The  Stalactital  Paradise ' — The  Pi uka  Jama        .    Page  149 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

SUBTERRANEAN   LIFE. 

Subterranean  Vegetation — Fungi — Enormous  Fungus  in  a  Tunnel  near  Doncaster 
— Artificial  Mushroom-beds  near  Paris — Subterranean  Animals — The  Guacharo 
— Wholesale  Slaughter — Insects  in  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg — The  Leptodirus  and 
the  Blothrus — The  Stalita  taenaria — The  Olm  or  Proteus — The  Lake  of  Cirk- 
nitz — The  Archduke  Ferdinand  and  Charon — The  Blind  Rat  and  the  Blind  Fish 
of  the  Mammoth  Cave .156 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CAVES   AS    PLACES   OF   REFUGE. 

The  Cave  of  Adullam— Mahomet  in  the  Cave  of  Thaur— The  Cave  of  Longara — The 
Cave  of  Egg — The  Caves  of  Rathlin — The  Cave  of  Yeermalik — The  Caves  of 
Grenada — Aben  Aboo,  the  Morisco  King — The  Caves  of  Gortyna  and  Melidoni 
— Atrocities  of  French  Warfare  in  Algeria — The  Caves  of  the  Dahra — The  Cave 
of  Shelas— St.  Arnaud 169 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

HERMIT   CAVES — ROCK   TEMPLES — ROCK   CHURCHES. 

St.  Paul  of  Thebes — St.  Anthony — His  visit  to  Alexandria,  and  death — Numerous 
Cave  Hermits  in  the  East — St.  Benedict  in  the  Cave  of  Subiaco — St.  Cuthbert — 
St.  Beatus — Rock  Temples  of  Kanara — The  Wonders  of  Ellora — Ipsamboul — 
Rock  Churches  of  Lalibala  in  Abyssinia— The  Cave  of  Trophonios-— The  Grotto 
of  St.  Rosolia  near  Palermo — The  Chapel  of  Agios  Niketas  in  Greece— The 
Chapel  of  Oberstein  on  the  Nahe — The  repentant  fratricide       .         .         .178 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ICE    CAVES   AND    WIND-HOLES. 

Ice-caves  of  St.  Georges  ai?d  St.  Livres — Beautiful  Ice-stalagmites  in  the  Cave  of 
La  Baume — The  Schafloch— Ice  Cataract  in  the  Upper  Glaciere  of  St.  Livres 
— Ice  Cavern  of  Eisenerz — The  Cave  of  Yeermalik — Volcanic  Ice-caves — JEolian 
Caverns  of  Terni — Causes  of  the  low  temperature  of  Ice-caves  ,         .192 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ROCK    TOMBS    AND    CATACOMBS. 

Biban-el-Moluk,  the  Royal  Tombs  of  Thebes — The  Roman  Catacombs — Their 
Extent — Their  Mode  of  Excavation — Touching  Sepulchral  Inscriptions — Antony 
Bosio,  the  Columbus  of  the  Catacombs — The  Cavaliere  di  Rossi — The  Catacombs 
of  Naples  and  Syracuse — The  Catacombs  of  Paris      ....  Page  202 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

CAVES    CONTAINING   EEMAINS    OF    EXTINCT    ANIMALS. 

The  Cave  Hyena  and  the  Cave  Bear — The  Cavern  of  Kirkdale — The  Moa  Caves 
in  New  Zealand — Various  Species  of  Moas — Their  enormous  size       .         .213 

CHAPTER  XX. 

SUBTERRANEAN   RELICS    OF   PREHISTORIC    MAN. 

The  Peat  Mosses  of  Denmark — Shell-Mounds — Swiss  Lacustrine  Dwellings — An- 
cient Mounds  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi — The  Caves  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Meuse — Dr.  Schmerling — Human  Skulls  in  the  Cave  of  Engis — Explorations 
of  Sir  Charles  Lyell  in  the  Cave  of  Engihoul — Caverns  of  Brixham — Caves  of 
Grower — The  Sepulchral  Grotto  of  Aurignac — Piint  Implements  discovered  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Somme — Gray's  Inn  Lane  an  ancient  Hunting-Ground  for 
Mammoths 221 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

TROGLODYTES  OR  CAVE-DWELLERS.   CANNIBAL  CAVES. 

Cave  Dwellings  in  the  Val  d'Ispica — The  Sicanians  —  Cannibal  Caves  in  South 
Africa — The  Rock  City  of  the  Themud — Legendary  Tale  of  its  Destruction  .  232 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

TUNNELS. 

Subterranean  London — The  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel — Its  Length — Ingenious  Boring 
Apparatus— The  Grotto  of  the  Pausilippo— The  Tomb  of  Virgil         .         .237 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ON    MINES    IN    GENERAL. 

Perils  of  the  Miner's  Life — Number  of  Casualties  in  British  and  Foreign  Coal 
Mines — Life  in  a  Mine — Occurrence  of  Ores — Extent  and  Depth  of  Metallic 
Veins — Mines   frequently  discovered  by  Chance  —The  Divining  Rod — Experi- 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

mental  Borings — Stirring  Emotions  during  their  Progress — Sinking  of  Shafts — 
Precautions  against  Influx  of  Water — Expense — Shaft  Accidents  —  Various 
Methods  of  working  Mineral  Substances — Working  in  Direct  and  Eeverse  Steps — 
Working  by  Transverse  Attacks — Open  Quarry  Workings — Pillar  and  Stall  Sys- 
tem— Long  Wall  System — Dangerous  Extraction  of  Pillars — Mining  Implements 
— Blasting — Heroes  in  Humble  Life — Firing  in  the  Mine  of  Kammelsberg — 
Transport  of  Minerals  Underground— Modern  Improvements — Various  Modes  of 
Descent — Corfs — Wonderful  Preservation  of  a  Girl  at  Fahlun — The  Loop — 
Safety  Cage — Man  Machines— Timbering  and  Walling  of  Galleries — Drainage 
by  Adit  Levels — Kemarkable  Adits  —  The  Great  Cornish  Adit  —  The  Georg 
Stollen  in  the  Hartz — The  Ernst  August  Stollen— Steam  Pumps— Drowning  of 
Mines  —  Irruption  of  the  Sea  into  Workington  Colliery — Hubert  Goffin — 
Irruption  of  the  Kiver  Garnock  into  a  Mine — Ventilation  of  Mines  — Upcast 
Shafts — Fire  Damp — Dreadful  Explosions — The  Safety  Lamp — The  Choke  Damp 
— Conflagrations  of  Mines — The  Burning  Hill  in  Staffordshire  .         .    Page  244 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

GOLD. 

The  Golden  Fleece  —  Golden  Statues  in  ancient  Temples  —  A  Free-thinking 
Soldier — Treasures  of  ancient  Monarchs — First  Gold  Coins — Ophir — Spanish 
Gold  Mines — Bohemian  Gold  Mines — Discovery  of  America — Siberian  Gold 
Mines — California  —  Marshall  —  Rush  to  the  Placers — Discovery  of  Gold  in 
Australia — The  Chinaman's  Hole — New  El  Dorados — Alluvial  Gold  Deposits  in 
California  and  Australia — Washing— Quartz-crushing       ....     285 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

SILVER. 

Its  ancient  Discovery — Its  Uses  among  the  luxurious  Romans — The  Mines  of 
Laurium — Silver  Mines  of  Bohemia,  Saxony,  and  Hungary — Colossal  Nuggets — 
Silver  Ores — Silver  Production  of  Europe — Mexican  Silver  Mines — The  Veta 
Madre  of  Guanaxuato — The  Conde  de  la  Valenciana — Zacatecas  and  Catorce — 
Adventures  of  a  Steam  Engine— La  Bolsa  de  Dios  Padre — The  Conde  de  la 
Regla — Ill-fated  English  Companies — Indian  Carriers — The  Dressing  of  Silver 
Ores — Amalgamating  Process — Enormous  Production  of  Mexican  Mines — Potosi 
— Cerro  de  Pasco — Gualgayoc — The  Mine  of  Salcedo — Hostility  of  the  Indians 
— The  Monk's  Rosary — Chilian  Mines— The  Comstock  Lode     .         .         .     297 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 
COPPER. 

Its  valuable  Qualities — English  Copper  Mines — Their  comparatively  recent 
Importance — Dreary  Aspect  of  the  Cornwall  Copper  Country — Botallack — Sub- 
marine Copper  Mines — A  Blind  Miner — Swansea — Smelting  Process — The  Mines 
of  Fahlun — their  Ancient  Records— Alteii  Fjord — Drontheim — The  Mines  of 
Roraas — The  Mines  of  Mansfeldt — Lake  Superior — Mysterious  Discoveries  — 
Burra  Burra— Remarkable  Instances  of  Good  Fortune  in  Copper  Mining  .     315 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

TIN. 

Tin  known  from  the  most  remote  antiquity — Phoenician  Traders  —  The 
Cassiterid.es  -  Diodorus  Siculus — His  account  of  the  Cornish  Tin  Trade — The 
Ago  of  Bronze — Valuable  Qualities  of  Tin — Tin  Countries — Cornish  Tin  Lodes 
— Tin  Streams — Wheal  Vor — A  Subterranean  Blacksmith — Huel  Wherry,  a 
Tin  Mine  under  the  Sea— Carclaze  Tin  Mine— Dressing  of  Tin  Ores— Smelting 
—  The  Cornish  Miner Page  332 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

IRON. 

Iron  the  most  valuable  of  Metals — Its  wide  Diffusion  over  the  Earth — Meteoric 
Iron — Iron  very  anciently  known — Extension  of  its  Uses  in  Modern  Times — 
British  Iron  Production — Causes  of  its  Rise — Hot  Blast — Puddling — Coal  Smelt- 
ing— The  Cleveland  District — Rapid  Rise  of  Middlesborough — British  Irou  Ores 
—  Production  of  Foreign  Countries — The  Magnetic  Mountain  in  Russia — The 
Eisenerz  Mountain  in  Styria — Dannemora — Elba — The  United  States — The 
Pilot  Knob— The  Cerro  del  Mercado 345 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

LEAD. 

Its  Properties  and  extensive  Uses — Alston  Moor — Belgian  Lead  Mines — Galena 
in  America — Extraction  of  Silver  from  Lead  Ores — Pattinson's  Process — A 
great  part  of  our  wealth  is  due  to  the  laboratory 364 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

MERCURY. 

Not  considered  as  a  true  Metal  by  the  Ancients — Its  Properties  and  Uses — 
Almaden — Formerly  worked  by  Convicts — Diseases  of  the  Miners — Idria — Its 
Discovery — Conflagration  of  the  Mine — Its  Produce — Huancavelica — New 
Almaden 370 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE       NEW       METALS. 

Zinc — The  Ores,  but  not  the  Metal,  known  to  the  Ancients — Rapid  increase  of  its 
Production — Chief  Zinc-producing  Countries  —Platinum — Antimony — Bismuth 
— Cobalt  and  Nickel — Wolfram — Arsenic — Chrome — Manganese — Cadmium — 
Titanium  —  Molybdenum  —  Aluminium  —  Aluminium  Bronze — Magnesium — 
Sodium — Palladium — Rhodium — Thallium       ......     380 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK   XXXII. 

COAL. 

The  Age  of  Coal — Plants  of  the  Carboniferous  Age — Hugh  Miller's  Description  of  a 
Coal  Forest — Vast  Time  required  for  the  Formation  of  the  Coal-fields — Derange- 
ments and  Dislocations — Faults — Their  Disadvantages  and  Advantages — Bitu- 
minous Coals — Anthracites — Our  Black  Diamonds — Advantageous  Position  of 
our  Coal-Mines — The  South  Welsh  Coal-field — Great  Central  and  Manchester 
Coal-fields — The  Whitehaven  Basin  and  the  Dudley  Area — Newcastle  and  Dur- 
ham Coal-fields — Costly  Winnings — A  Ball  in  a  Coal-pit— Submarine  Coal  Mines 
— Newcastle— View  from  Tynemouth  Priory — Hewers — Cutting  Machines — 
Putters — Onsetters — Shifters — Trapper-boys — George  Stephenson — Rise  of  Coal 
Production — Probable  Duration  of  our  Supply — Prussian  Coal  Mines — Belgian 
Coal  Mines — Coal  Mines  in  various  other  countries — Maunch  Chunck  .  Page  390 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

BITUMINOUS    SUBSTANCES. 

Formation  of  Petroleum — Enormous  Production  of  the  Pennsylvanian  Wells — 
Asphalte  used  by  the  Ancients — Asphalte  Pavements — The  Pitch  Lake  of 
Trinidad— Jet — Its  Manufacture  in  Whitby 426 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

SALT. 

Geological  Position  of  Rock  Salt — Mines  of  Northwich — Their  immense  Excava- 
tions— Droitwich  and  Stoke — Wieliczka — Berchtesgaden  and  Reichenhall — 
Admirable  Machinery — Stassfurt — Processes  employed  in  the  Manufacture  of 
Salt — Origin  of  Rock-salt  Deposits  ........     431 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

SULPHUR. 

Sulphur  Mines  of  Sicily — Conflagration  of  a  Sulphur  Mine — The  Solfataras  of 
Krisuvick — Iwogasima  in  Japan — Solfatara  of  Puzzuoli — Crater  of  Teneriffe 
— Alaghez —  Biidoshegy  in  Transylvania  —  Sulphur  from  the  Throat  of 
Popocatepetl  —  Sulphurous  Springs  —  Pyrites  —  Mines  of  San  Domingo  in 
Portugal — The  Baron  of  Pommorao. 441 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

AMBER. 

Various  Modes  of  its  Collection  on  the  Prussian  Coast — What  is  Amber? — The 
extinct  Amber  Tree — Insects  of  the  Miocene  Period  inclosed  in  Amber — 
Formidable  Spiders — Ancient  and  Modern  Trade  in  Amber       .         ,        .     449 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTEE   XXXVII. 

MISCELLANEOUS    MINERAL    SUBSTANCES    USED    IN   THE    INDUSTRIAL   ARTS. 

Alum — Alum  Mines  of  Tolfa — Borax — The  Suffioni  in  the  Florentine  Lagoons — 
China-clay — How  formed? — Its  Manufacture  in  Cornwall — Plumbago — Emery 
— Tripolite Page  458 

CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

CELEBRATED     QUARRIES. 

Carrara — The  Pentelikon — The  Parian  Quarries— Rosso  antico  and  Verde  antico — 
The  Porphyry  of  Elfdal— The  Gypsum  of  Montmartre  — The  Alabaster  of  Vol- 
terra — The  Slate  Quarries  of  Wales — 'Princesses'  and  'Duchesses' — '  Ladies'  and 
*  Fat  Ladies'— St.  Peter's  Mount  near  Maestricht — Egyptian  Quarries — Haggar 
Silsilis— The  Latomise  of  Syracuse— A  Triumph  of  Poetry         .         .         .     464 

CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

PRECIOUS    STONES. 

Diamonds— Diamond  Cutting— Rose  Diamonds— Brilliants— The  Diamond  District 
in  Brazil — Diamond  Lavras — The  great  Russian  Diamond— The  Regent — The 
Koh-i-Noor— Its  History— The  Star  of  the  South— Diamonds  used  for  Industrial 
Purposes— The  Oriental  Ruby  and  Sapphire— The  Spinel— The  Chrysoberyl— 
The  Emerald— The  Beryl— The  Zircon— The  Topaz— The  Oriental  Turquoise— 
The  Garnet— Lapis  Lazuli— The  Noble  Opal— Inferior  Precious  Stones— The 
Agate-Cutters  of  Oberstein— Rock  Crystal— The  Rock-crystal  Grotto  of  the 
Galenstock 477 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


MAPS. 

Of  the  World,  showing  the  distribution  of  Volcanoes  and  the 
Districts  visited  by  Earthquakes  .  •  • 

Of  Great  Britain,  showing  the  Coal-fields  and  chief  Mining 
Districts  .  • 

Of  America,  showing  the  Coal-fields  and  Mineral  Districts 


to  face  page  60 

„         400 
410 


WOODCUTS. 

PAGE 

Carboniferous  Forest         .  .  .         engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  title 

Tabular  Geological  Profile  of  Strata  with  correspond- 
ing Fossils       .....     engraved  by  G.  Pearson 

Aqueous  Strata  disturbed  by  Igneous  Formations    .  „  ,, 

Ammonites  Henleyi  (Middle  Lias)        from  Haughton's  'Manual  of  Geology ' 

Trilobite  .  •  •          from  Kemp's  '  Phasis  of  Matter ' 

Magnified  Eye  of  Trilobite       .  .  »  »  » 

Pterygotus  acuminatus  (Eurypterid)/rom  Haughton's  ■  Manual  of  Geology  ' 

Spirifer  prinefps  (Brachiopod)  .  „  »  » 

Pterichthys  Milleri,  restored  (Old  Ked  Sandstone  of 
Scotland)  .... 

Ventriculites,  Fossil  Sponge  (Chalk)  . 

Siphonia   costata.  Fossil  Sponge,  Green  Sand,  War 
minster)  . 

Encrinus  liliiformis  (Muschelkalk,  Germany) 

Pentacrinus  briareiis    .... 

Marsupites  ornatus  (Chalk)     . 

Turrilites  tuberculatum 

Restored  Belemnite     .... 

Ichthyosaurus  communis 

a 


XV111  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Plesiosaurus  dolichodeirus  (British  Museum — found  in  the 

Lias  of  Street,  near  Glastonbury) /rom  Haughton's  '  Manual  of  Geology'  21 

Glyptodon  clavipes                                            „                      „                       ,,  25 

Diagram  illustrating  action  of  Syphon             .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  44 

Section  of  an  Intermittent  Spring                                            „                     „  45 

Gey  sirs  of  Iceland      .....,,                     „  46 

Porous  Strata,  Artesian  Well  sunk  in  the  London 

Basin       .......                     „  49 

Middle  and  Valley  Lake  Craters,  Mount 

Gambier,  South  Australia             from  Wood's  'Australia'     to  face  page  53 

Extinct  Crater  of  Haleakala    .             .          from  Webb's  '  Celestial  Objects  '  57 

Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  Bay  of  Naples  .    engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  page  81 

Mud  Volcanoes  of  Trinidad     .              .              .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  94 

Great  Earthquake  at  Lisbon   .             .    engraved  by  G.Pearson,  to  face  page  114 

Axmouth  Landslip      ....              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  128 

Stalactital  Cavern  at  Aggtelek:  the  Cave 

of  Borodla            .             .             .    engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  page  133 

Entrance  to  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg     .             .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  137 

Stalactital  Cavern  in  Australia            .             .          from  Wood's  'Australia'  141 

Cave  under  Bonifacio  .             .             .             .         from  Forester's  '  Corsica '  145 

Leptodirus  Hbchenwartii  .  .  .  engraved  by  G.  Pearson  163 
The  Proteus  anguinus  .  .  .  „  ,,165 
Blind  Fish  (Amblyopsis  spelceus)  .  .  „  ,,168 
Indian  Kock-cut  Temple  .  .  engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  page  178 
Kock  Temples  of  Ajunta  (general  view)  .  engraved  by  G.  Pearson  182 
Lower  Glaciere  of  St.  Livres  .  .  from  Browne's  'Ice  Caves'  193 
Ice  Streams  in  the  Upper  Glaciere  of  St.  Livres  ,,  „  196 
Entrance  to  the  Glaciere  of  St.  Georges  .  „  „  201 
Gallery  with  Tombs  from  Northcote  and  Brownlow's  '  Koma  Sotterranea '  206 
Cave  in  Dream  Lead  Mine,  near  Wirksworth,  Derby- 
shire       .....              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  216 

Boring  Machine  in  the  Tunnel,  Mont  Cenis  j  **"  from    ***  ' Illustrated }  238 

(  London  News    by  permission  ) 

Boring   Machine  in   the  Second  Working 

Gallery,  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel        .                           „                     „  239 

Process  of  Boring        .             .             .             .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  251 

Section  of  a  Lead  Mine  in  Cardiganshire  \  from  Ure's  '  DictionaiT  of  Arts>  I  252 

(       Manufactures,  and  Mines  '   .   ) 

Part  of  a  Colliery  laid  out  in  four  panels        .             „                     „  255 

General  View  of  Mining  Operations    .             .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  257 

Tools  used  by  Miners  in  Cornwall      .       J  J™  TTre's  '  Di<*ionary  of  Arts  >  25g 

(       Manufactures,  and  Mines  '   .    ) 

Conveyance  of  Minerals  underground              .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  262 

Miners  descending  Shaft  in  Owen's  Safety  Cage          .          „                     „  265 

Timbering  of  a  Mine  .             .             .     j  fro™  Ure's  '  Dictionary  of  Arts, )  26g 

(       Manufactures,  and  Mines '   .    > 

Transverse  Sections  of  Walled  Drain  Galleries            „                     „  269 

Drainage  of  a  Mine  by  Adit  Levels                               „                     „  269 

Safety  Lamp   .....,,                     „  280 

Gold-washing  in  Australia      .             .             .             engraved  by  G.  Pearson  292 

Stamping  Mill     from  Ure's  '  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Mines  '  306 

Grinding  Mill                             „                           „                          „  31)7 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XIX 


PAGE 

The  Botallack  Mine,  Cornwall            .            .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  317 

St.  Michael's  Mount,  Cornwall             .             .              .                             „  333 

Blast  Furnace      from  Ure's  '  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Mines '  352 

Pecopteris  adiantoides .             .             from  Haughton's  'Manual  of  Geology'  391 

Sphenopteris  affinis     ...                ,,                              „  391 

Lepidodendron  elegans                                           „                             „  392 

Asterophyllites  comosa              .             .                ,,                             „  392 

Sigillaria  oculata         .             .             .                „                             „  392 

Catamites  nodosus        .             .             .                „                             „  393 

Coalbeds  rendered  available  by  elevation,  from  '  Our  Coal  and  Our  Coal  Pits'  397 

Section  of  Coal-field  south  of  Malmesbury  1*™  Ure's  '  Dictionf  T «  Arts,  1  398 

I     Manufactures,  and  Mines    .    J 

Coal-basin  of  Clackmannanshire          .                       ,,                     ,,  403 

Dudley  Coal-field        .             .  from  Howitt's  '  Visits  to  Eemarkable  Places  '  407 

Shipping  Coal                                          „                          ,,                          „  412 

Coal  Hewers  at  Work              .             .             .              engraved  by  G.  Pearson  415 

Pitch  Lake  of  Trinidad            .             .     engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  page  429 

Insects  and  Vegetable  Substances  inclosed  in  Amber,  engraved  by  G.  Pearson  452 

Penrhyn  Slate  Quarry,  North  Wales  .     engraved  by  G.  Pearson,  to  face  page  469 


The  following  is  a  list  of  the  full-page  illustrations,  included  in  the  foregoing 
list,  all  of  which,  except  No.  2,  are  engraved  by  G.  Pearson  : — 

1.  Carboniferous  Forest       ....  to  face  title 

2.  Middle  and  Valley  Lake  Craters,  Mount   Gambier, 

South  Australia  ....     to  face  page  53 

3.  Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  Bay  of  Naples      .  ,,81 

4.  Great  Earthquake  at  Lisbon        .  .  .  ,,114 

5.  Stalactital  Cavern  at  Aggtelek  ;  the  Cave  of  Borodla       ,,         133 

6.  Indian  Kock-cut  Temple  :  Porch  of  the  Chaitya  Cave 

Temple,  Ajunta  .  .  .  .  ,,178 

7.  Pitch  Lake  of  Trinidad  ....  ,,429 

8.  Penrhyn  Slate  Quarry,  North  Wales      .  .  „        469 


CHAPTEE  I. 

GEOLOGICAL    REVOLUTIONS. 

The  Eternal  Strife  between  Water  and  Fire — Strata  of  Aqueous  Origin — Tabular 
View  of  their  Chronological  Succession — Enormous  Time  required  for  their 
Formation — Igneous  Action — Metamorphic  Rocks — Upheaval  and  Depression — • 
Fossils — Uninterrupted  Succession  of  Organic  Life. 

GEOLOGY  teaches  us  that,  from  times  of  the  remoteness 
of  which  the  human  mind  can  form  no  conception,  the 
surface  of  the  earth  has  been  the  scene  of  perpetual  change, 
resulting  from  the  action  and  counter- action  of  two  mighty 
agents — water  and  subterranean  heat. 

Ever  since  the  first  separation  between  the  dry  land  and 
the  sea  took  place,  the  breakers  of  a  turbulent  ocean,  the 
tides  and  currents,  the  torrents  and  rivers,  the  expansive 
power  of  ice,  which  is  able  to  split  the  hardest  rock,  and  the 
grinding  force  of  the  glacier,  have  been  constantly  wearing 
away  the  coasts  and  the  mountains,  and  transporting 
the  spoils  of  continents  and  islands  from  a  higher  to  a 
lower  level. 

During  our  short  historical  period  of  three  or  four  thou- 
sand years,  the  waters,  in  spite  of  their  restless  activity  and 
the  considerable  local  changes  effected  by  their  means,  have 
indeed  produced  no  marked  alteration  in  the  great  outlines 
of  the  sea  and  land  ;  but  when  we  consider  that  their  in- 
fluence has  extended  over  countless  ages,  we  can  no  longer 
wonder  at  the  enormous  thickness  of  the  stratified  rocks  of 
aqueous  origin  which,  superposed  one  above  the  other  in 
successive  layers,  constitute  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
earth-rind. 

Our  knowledge  of  these  sedimentary  formations  is  indeed 
as  yet  but  incomplete,  for  large  portions  of  the  surface  of  the 
globe   have   never   yet   been    scientifically   explored ;  but  a 

B 


*2.' Cambrian 

3.  Silurian 

4.  Devonian 


2  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

careful  examination  and  comparison  of  the  various  strata 
composing  the  rocky  foundations  of  numerous  countries,  have 
already  enabled  the  geologist  to  classify  them  into  the 
following  chronological  systems  or  groups,  arranged  in  an 
ascending  series,  or  beginning  with  the  oldest. 

V  I;.*-Laurentian,  named  from  its  discovery  northward  of  the 
.River  St.  -Lawrence  in  Canada. 

These  three  groups  owe  their  name  to  their 
occurrence  in  Wales  and  Devonshire, 
where  they  were  first  scientifically  ex- 
plored. 

5.  Carboniferous.  In  this  group  the  most  important  coal- 
fields are  found. 

6.  Permian,  from  the  Russian  province  of  Permia. 

7.  Triassic. 

8.  Lias. 

9.  Oolite. 

10.  Cretaceous. 

11.  Tertiary  :  subdivided  into  Eocene,  Miocene,  and  Plio- 
cene. 

12.  Recent  marine  and  lacustrine  strata. 

Each  of  these  systems  consists  again  of  numerous  sections 
and  alternate  layers,  sometimes  of  marine,  sometimes  of 
freshwater  formation,  the  mere  naming  of  which  would 
fill  several  pages. 

When  we  reflect  that  the  Laurentian  system  alone  has  a 
thickness  of  30,000  feet ;  that  many  of  the  numerous  sub- 
divisions of  the  Triassic  or  Oolitic  group  are  600,  800,  or 
even  several  thousand  feet  thick,  and  that  each  of  these 
enormous  sedimentary  formations  owes  its  existence  to  the 
disintegration  of  pre-existing  mountain  masses  —  we  can 
form  at  least  a  faint  notion  of  the  enormous  time  which  the 
whole  system  required  for  its  completion. 

Had  the  levelling  power  of  water  never  met  with  an  antago- 
nistic force,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  last  remains  of  the 
dry  land,  supposing  it  could  ever  have  risen  above  the  ocean, 
must  long  since  have  been  swept  into  the  sea.  But  while 
water  has  been  constantly  tending  to  reduce  the  irregularities 
of  the  earth's  surface  to  one  dull  level,  the  expansive  force 
of  subterranean  heat  has  been  no  less  unceasingly  active  in 


TABULAR      GEOLOGICAL      PROFILE. 


4  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

restoring  the  unevenness  of  the  external  crust  by  the  ejection 
or  protrusion  of  new  masses  of  stone  (porphyry,  trachyte, 
basalt,  lava,  &c),  and  by  the  consequent  disturbance,  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  of  the  stratified  rocks. 

Plutonic  and  volcanic  eruptions  and  upheavings,  in  their 
reaction  against  the  levelling  tendencies  of  water,  have  in 
many  places  deranged,  broken,  fractured,  contorted,  or 
raised  strata  deposited  in  horizontal  layers  at  the  bottom  of 


AQUEOUS   STRATA  DISTURBED   BY   IGNEOUS  FORMATIONS. 

BCD,  aqueous  strata,  originally  horizontal,  raised  by  protrusion  of  A,  granitic  rock. 

the  sea,  or  of  large  inland  lakes.  Sometimes  a  huge  mass  of 
crystalline  rock,  glowing  from  the  furnaces  of  the  deep,  has, 
by  its  irresistible  expansion,  slowly  forced  its  way  through 
the  superincumbent  sedimentary  formations,  which,  yielding 
to  the  pressure  from  below,  now  form  vast  mountain  slopes, 
or  vertical  rock  walls,  or  have  even  been  so  totally  inverted 
that  strata  of  a  more  ancient  formation  now  overlie  those  of 
more  modern  date,  and  excite  the  wonder  of  the  puzzled 
geologist. 

Sometimes,  also,  volcanic  eruptions,  repeated  through  a 
long  lapse  of  ages  and  constantly  accumulating  lavas  and 
cinders,  have  at  length  piled  up  large  islands,  such  as  Ice- 
land or  Madeira,  which  now  raise  their  summits  thousands 
of  feet  above  the  ocean. 

But  subterranean  fire,  and  its  assistant,  steam,  have  not 
only  produced  vast  mechanical  changes ;  they  have  also  been 
the  frequent  causes  of  great  chymical  metamorphoses  in  the 
rocks  subjected  to  their  action.  To  the  calcining,  decomposing, 
and  vapour-generating  effects  of  heat,  we  trace  the  origin  of 
the  marble  of  Carrara,  of  alabaster,  of  gypsum,  and  all  those 


PERIODS    OF    GEOLOGICAL    FORMATIONS.  5 

various  species  of  stone  which  geologists  include  under  the 
name  of  metamorphic  rocks. 

Besides  the  more  paroxysmal  and  violent  revolutions 
resulting  from  the  action  of  subterranean  fire,  we  find  that 
the  earth-rind  has  at  all  times  been  subject  to  slow  oscillatory 
movements  of  upheaval  and  subsidence,  frequently  alternating 
on  the  same  spot  with  long  periods  of  rest.  The  greater  part  of 
the  actual  dry  land  has  been  deep  sea,  and  then  again  land 
and  ocean  many  times  in  succession  ;  and  doubtless  the  actual 
sea  bottom  would  exhibit  similar  alternations  were  we  able  to 
explore  it.  The  same  materials  have  repeatedly  been  ex- 
posed to  all  these  changes — now  raised  or  poured  out  by 
subterrannean  fires,  and  then  again  swept  away  by  the 
waters ;  now  changed  from  solid  rock  into  sand  and  mud, 
and  then  again  converted,  by  pressure  or  hea/t,  into  solid  rock. 
Thus  the  history  of  the  earth-rind  opens  to  us  a  vista  into 
time  no  less  grand  and  magnificent  than  the  vista  into  space 
afforded  by  the  contemplation  of  the  starry  heavens. 

The  oldest  and  the  newest  stratified  rocks  are  composed 
of  the  same  mineral  substances ;  for  clay,  sandstone,  and 
limestone  occur  in  the  Silurian  and  in  the  Carboniferous 
formation ;  in  the  Cretaceous  and  Triassic  systems ;  in  the 
Tertiary  and  in  the  Alluvial  deposits,  which  have  imme- 
diately preceded  the  present  epoch. 

Where  then,  it  may  be  asked,  does  the  geologist  find  a 
chronological  guide  to  lead  him  through  the  vast  series  of 
strata  which,  in  the  course  of  countless  ages,  have  been 
deposited  in  the  water  ?  How  is  he  able  to  distinguish  the 
boundaries  of  the  various  periods  of  creation  ?  Where  are 
the  precise  indications  which  enable  him  to  decipher  the 
enigmas  which  the  endless  feuds  of  fire  and  water  have 
written  in  the  annals  of  our  globe  ? 

The  fossil  remains  of  animals  and  plants  wonclerfully 
furnish  the  guidance  which  he  needs.  The  corals  and 
shells,  the  ferns  and  conifera,  the  teeth  and  bones  found  in 
the  various  strata  of  the  earth-rind  are  the  landmarks  which 
point  out  to  him  his  way  through  the  labyrinth  of  the  primi- 
tive ages  of  our  globe,  as  the  compass  directs  the  mariner 
over  the  pathless  sea.  Every  leading  fossil  has  its  fixed 
chronological  character,  and  thus  the  age  of  the  formation 


6  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

in  which  it  occurs  may  be  ascertained,  and  its  place  deter- 
mined in  the  geological  scale.  It  would,  however,  be  erro- 
neous to  suppose  that  each  successive  formation  has  been 
the  seat  of  a  totally  distinct  creation,  and  that  the  organic 
remains  found  in  one  particular  stratum  are  separated  by  an 
impassable  barrier  from  those  which  characterise  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  sedimentary  deposits. 

As  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  or  along  the  shores  of  the 
sea,  each  land  or  each  coast  has  not  only  its  peculiar  plants  or 
animals,  but  also  harbours  many  of  the  organic  forms  of  the 
neighbouring  countries  or  conterminous  shores;  as  the  tropical 
organisations  gradually  pass  into  those  of  the  temperate  zones, 
and  these  again  merge  into  those  of  the  polar  regions,  so  also 
the  stream  of  life  has  from  the  first  flowed  uninterruptedly, 
in  gradually  changing  forms,  through  every  following  age. 
New  genera  and  species  have  arisen,  and  others  have  disap- 
peared, some  after  a  comparatively  short  duration,  others 
after  having  outlasted  several  formations ;  but  every  extinct 
form  has  but  made  way  for  others,  and  thus  each  period  has 
not  only  witnessed  the  decay  of  many  previously  flourishing 
genera  and  species,  but  has  also  marked  a  new  creation. 

No  doubt  the  numerous  local  disturbances  above  mentioned 
have  frequently  broken  the  chain  of  created  beings  ;  but  a 
gradual  progress  from  related  to  related  forms,  a  continuous 
development  from  lower  to  more  highly  organised  species, 
genera,  orders,  and  classes,  has  from  the  beginning  been 
the  general  and  constant  law  of  organic  life.  Universal 
destructions  of  existing  forms,  revolutions  covering  the  whole 
surface  of  the  earth  with  ruin,  have  most  assuredly  never 
occurred  in  the  annals  of  our  globe. 

Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  the  whole  scale  of  sedi- 
mentary formations  is  to  be  found  superimposed  in  one  spot ; 
for  as  in  our  times  new  strata  are  chiefly  growing  at  the 
mouths  of  rivers,  or  where  submarine  currents  deposit  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean  the  fine  mud  or  sand  which  is  conveyed 
into  the  sea  by  the  disintegration  of  distant  mountain  chains, 
so  also  from  the  beginning  each  stratum  could  only  have 
been  deposited  in  similar  localities ;  and  while  it  was  slowly 
increasing,  and  not  seldom  acquiring  colossal  dimensions  in 
some  parts  of  the  globe,  others  remained  comparatively  but 


SUBTERRANEAN    FORCES.  7 

little  altered,  until  new  oscillatory  movements  produced  a 
change  in  their  former  position,  and  opening  new  paths  to 
the  rolling  waters,  here  set  bounds  to  the  progress  of  one 
formation,  and  there  favoured  the  deposition  of  another. 

A  complete  study  of  all  the  various  transformations  by  fire 
or  water  which  the  surface  of  our  earth,  has  undergone  would 
require  an  elaborate  treatise  of  geology,  and  lies  far  beyond 
the  scope  or  the  pretensions  of  a  popular  volume  which  is 
chiefly  devoted  to  the  description  of  caves  and  mines.  But 
I  should  be  neglecting  some  of  the  most  interesting  features 
of  the  subterranean  world,  were  I  to  omit  all  mention  of  the 
fossils  imbedded  in  its  various  strata ;  of  its  internal  heat ; 
of  the  upheavals  and  subsidences  which  have  played  so  con- 
spicuous a  part  in  the  history  of  the  earth-rind,  and  are  still 
proceeding  at  the  present  day ;  of  the  water  percolating  or 
flowing  beneath  the  earth's  crust,  and  finally  of  the  volcanoes 
and  earthquakes,  which  prove  to  us  that  the  ancient  sub- 
terranean fires,  far  from  being  extinct,  are  still  as  powerful 
as  ever  in  remodelling  its  surface. 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   II. 

FOSSILS. 

General  Remarks  — Eozoon  Canadense  —  Trilobites  —  Brachiopods  — Pteriehthys 
Milleri  —  Oldest  Reptiles  — Wonderful  Preservation  of  Colour  in  Petrified 
Shells  —  Primaeval  Corals  and  Sponges  —  Sea-lilies  —  Orthoceratites  and 
Ammonites  —  Belemnites— Ichthyosaurus  and  Plesiosaurus  — Pterodactyli — 
Iguanodon  —  Tertiary  Quadrupeds  —  Dinotherium  —  Colossochelys  Atlas  — 
Megatherium  —  Mylodon  —  Glyptodon  —  Mammoth — Mastodon  —  Si  vatherium 
Giganteum — Fossil  Ripple-marks,  Rain-drops,  and  Footprints — Harmony  has 
reigned  from  the  beginning. 

THE  fossil  remains  of  plants  and  animals,  which  have 
successively  flourished  and  passed  away  since  the  first 
dawn  of  organic  life,  occupy  a  prominent  place  among  the 
wonders  of  the  subterranean  world.  A  medal  that  has  sur- 
vived the  ruin  of  empires  is  no  doubt  a  venerable  relic,  but 
it  seems  to  have  been  struck  but  yesterday  when  compared 
with  a  shell  or  a  leaf  that  has  been  buried  millions  of  years 
ago  in  the  drift  of  the  primeval  ocean,  and  now  serves  the 
geologist  as  a  waymark  through  the  past  epochs  of  the 
earth's  history. 

If  we  examine  the  condition  in  which  the  fossils  have 
been  preserved  in  the  strata  successively  deposited  on  the 
surface  of  our  globe,  we  find  that  in  general  only  parts  of 
the  original  plant  or  animal  have  escaped  destruction,  and 
in  these  fragments  also  the  primitive  substance  has  often 
been  replaced  by  other  materials,  so  that  only  their  form  or 
their  impression  has  triumphed  over  time.  While  soft  and 
delicate  textures  have  either  been  utterly  swept  away,  or  could 
only  be  preserved  under  the  rarest  circumstances  (as,  for 
instance,  the  insects  and  flowers  inclosed  in  amber),  a  greater 
degree  of  hardness  or  solidity  naturally  gave  a  better  chance 
of  escaping  destruction.  Thus  among  plants  the  most  fre- 
quent fossil-remains  are  furnished  by  stems,  roots,  branches, 


EXTINCTION    OF    SPECIES.  9 

fruit-stones,  leaves ;  and,  among-  animals,  by  corals,  shells, 
calcareous  crusts,  teeth,  scales,  and  bones.  But  the  few 
memorials  that  have  thus  survived  the  lapse  of  ages  enable 
us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  multitudes  that  have  entirely 
perished ;   and  the  petrified  shell  of  the  Ammonite,  or  the 


AMMONITES   HEXLEYI    (MIDDLE   LIAS). 

jointed  arms  of  the  Encrinite,  are  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
the  world  of  tiny  beings  which  served  them  for  their  nour- 
ishment and  have  been  utterly  swept  away.  If  we  consider 
that  the  number  of  all  the  known  species  of  fossil  plants 
hardly  amounts  to  3,000,  while  the  Flora  of  the  present  day, 
as  far  as  it  has  been  examined  by  systematical  botanists, 
numbers  at  least  250,000  species ;  that  the  host  of  living 
insects  is  probably  still  more  numerous,  although  not  much 
more  than  1,500  extinct  species  of  this  class  are  known  to  us ; 
and  that,  finally,  the  remains  of  all  the  extinct  crustaceous 
fishes,  reptiles,  and  warm-blooded  animals  are  far  outnum- 
bered by  the  species  actually  living — we  may  form  some  idea 
of  the  vast  multitudes  that  have  left  no  trace  behind,  and 
whose  total  loss  will  for  ever  confine  within  narrow  limits  our 
knowledge  of  the  past  phases  of  organic  creation.  This  loss 
appears  still  greater  when  we  consider  the  enormous  extent 
of  time  during  which  the  fossils  known  to  us  have  successively 
existed,  and  that  a  part  only  of  the  comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  the  orders,  genera,  and  species  to  which  they  belong 
existed  at  one  and  the  same  epoch.  But  as,  owing  to  the 
hard  texture  and  mode  of  life  which  are  so  eminently  favour- 
able for  the  preservation  of  shells,  we  have  been  enabled  to 
collect   about    11,000    fossil   species,    a   number   not   much 


10  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

inferior  to  that  of  the  molluscs  of  the  present  day,  we  may 
justly  conclude  that  the  more  perishable  forms  of  life,  of 
which,  consequently,  fewer  vestiges  have  been  preserved, 
were  comparatively  as  numerous,  and  that  ever  since  the 
first  dawn  of  organic  life  our  earth  has  borne  an  immense 
variety  of  plants  and  animals. 

Though  comparatively  but  few  species  have  been  preserved, 
yet  sometimes  the  accumulation  of  fossil  remains  is  truly 
astonishing.  In  the  carboniferous  strata  we  not  seldom  find 
more  than  one  hundred  beds  of  coal  interstratified  with 
sandstones,  shales,  and  limestones,  and  extending  for  miles 
and  miles  in  every  direction.  How  luxuriant  must  have 
been  the  growth  of  the  forests  that  could  produce  masses 
such  as  these,  and  what  countless  multitudes  of  herbivorous 
insects  must  have  fed  upon  their  foliage  or  afforded  food  to 
carnivorous  hordes  scarcely  less  numerous  than  themselves  ! 
The  remains  of  corals,  encrinites,  and  shells  often  form  the 
greater  part  of  whole  mountain  ranges,  and,  what  is  still 
more  remarkable,  mighty  strata  of  limestone  or  flint  are  not 
seldom  almost  entirely  composed  of  the  aggregated  remains 
of  microscopical  animals. 

After  these  remarks  on  fossils  in  general,  I  will  now 
briefly  point  out  some  of  the  most  striking  of  the  species  so 
preserved  to  us  as  they  successively  appeared  upon  the  stage 
of  life. 

In  the  Lower  Laurentian  Eocks,  the  most  ancient  strata 
known,  only  one  fossil  has  hitherto  been  found.  The  Eozoon 
eanadense,  as  it  has  been  called,  belonged  to  the  Rhizopods, 
which  occupy  about  the  lowest  grade  in  the  scale  of  animal 
existence.  Its  massive  skeletons,  composed  of  innumerable 
cells,  would  seem  to  have  extended  themselves  over  submarine 
rocks,  their  base  upwards  of  twelve  inches  in  width  and  their 
thickness  from  four  to  six  inches.  Such  is  the  antiquity  of 
the  Eozoon  that  the  distance  of  time  which  separated  it 
from  the  Trilobites  of  the  Cambrian  formation  may  be  equal 
to  the  vast  period  which  elapsed  between  these  and  the  Ter- 
tiary ages.  In  other  words,  it  is  beyond  our  imagination  to 
conceive. 

In  the  next  following  Cambrian  formation  we  find,  besides 
some  zoophytes  and  shells,  a  number  of  Trilobites,  which, 


CONDITION  OF  THE  SILURIAN  OCEAN. 


11 


however,  appear  to  have  been  most  abundant  in  the  Silurian 
seas,  where  they  probably  swarmed  as  abundantly  as  the 
crabs  and  shrimps  in  the  waters  of  the  present  age.  Few 
fossils   are   more    curious   than   these  strange   crustaceans, 


TRILOBITE. 


MAGNIFIED  EYE  OP  TUILOBITE. 


which  so  widely  differ  from  their  modern  relatives.  The 
jointed  carapace  is  divided  into  three  lobes,  the  middle  pro- 
minent one  forming  the  axis  of  the  body,  while  the  lateral 
ones  were  free  appendages,  under  which  the  soft  membrana- 
ceous swimming  feet  were  concealed.  Large  eyes,  resembling 
those  of  a  dragon-fly,  projected  from  the  odd  crescent-shaped 
head,  and,  being  composed  of  many  hundred  spherical  facets, 
commanded  a  wide  view  of  the  horizon.  Provided  with  such 
complicated  organs  of  vision,  the  helpless  animal  could  be- 
times perceive  the  approaching  enemy,  or  more  easily  espy 
its  prey,  consisting,  most  likely,  of  the  smaller  marine  anne- 
lides  or  molluscs.  Prom  the  structure  of  these  remarkable 
eyes  we  may  conclude  that  the  waters  of  the  old  Cambrian 
or  Silurian  Ocean  were  as  limpid  as  those  of  the  present 
seas,  and  that  the  natural  relations  of  light  to  the  eye  and  of 
the  eye  to  light  cannot  have  greatly  changed  since  that 
period.  Many,  if  not  all,  of  the  Trilobites  were  capable  of 
rolling  themselves  up  into  a  ball,  like  wood-lice ;  and  ac- 
cordingly it  is  found  that  in  many  of  them  the  contour  of 
the  head  and  tail  is  so  constructed  that  they  fit  accurately 
when  rolled  up.  Most  probably  the  Trilobites  either  swam 
in  an  inverted  position,  the  belly  upwards,  or  crawled  slowly 


12 


THE  SUBTEBRANEAN   WORLD. 


along  at  the  bottom  of  the  shallow  coast  waters,  where  they 
lived  gregariously  in  vast  numbers. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Trilobites  were  the  Eurypterids, 
which  vary  from  one  foot  to  five  or  six  feet  in  length.  One 
of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  this  remarkable  order 
of  crustaceans  is  the  formidable  pair  of  pincers  with  which 
they  were  armed.     As  their  whole  structure  shows  them  to 


PTERYGOTUS  ACUMINATUS  (EURYPTERID). 


SPIRIFER  PRINCEPS  (RP.ACHIOPOD). 


have  been  active  swimmers,  they  must  have  made  consider- 
able havoc  among  the  smaller  fry  of  the  Devonian  and 
Silurian  seas. 

Then  also  abounded  in  hundreds  of  species  the  Brachiopods, 
a  class  of  molluscs  now  but  feebly  represented  by  a  scanty 
remnant.  The  greater  part  of  the  interior  of  the  shell,  con- 
sisting of  two  unequal  valves,  is  occupied  with  branching 


SILURIAN    FISHES.  13 

arms,  furnished  with  cilia,  which  cause  a  constant  current 
to  flow  towards  the  mouth  of  the  mollusc,  and  thus  provide 
for  its  nourishment.  The  arms,  as  in  the  family  of  the 
Spiriferida?,  are  sometimes  supported  by  calcareous  skeletons, 
arranged  like  loops  or  spirals. 

Some  Brachiopods  are  attached  to  stones,  like  oysters; 
in  others  the  larger  valve  is  perforated,  and  a  sinewy  kind  of 
foot,  passing  through  the  aperture,  serves  as  a  holdfast  to 
the  animal. 

Most  of  these  helpless  creatures  did  not  survive  the  Car- 
boniferous period,  but  the  Terebratulse,  which  still  have  their 
representatives  in  the  modern  seas,  existed  even  then,  so 
that  their  genealogical  tree  may  justly  boast  of  a  very  high 
antiquity. 

The  fishes,  of  which  the  oldest  known  specimen  has  been 
found  in  the  Upper  Silurian  group  (Lower  Ludlow),  become 
more  frequent  in  the  next  following  Devonian  epoch,  where 
they  appear  in  a  variety  of  wonderful  forms,  widely  different 
from  those  of  the  present  day.  While  in  nearly  all  the 
existing  fishes  the  scales  are  flexible,  and  generally  either  of 
a  more  or  less  circular  form  (cycloid),  as  in  the  salmon, 
herring,  roach,  &c,  or  provided  with  comb-like  teeth,  pro- 
jecting from  the  posterior  margin  (ctenoid),  as  in  the  sole  or 
perch,  the  fishes  of  the  Devonian,  Permian,  and  Carboniferous 
periods  were  decked  with  hard  bony  scales,  either  covered 
with  a  brilliant  enamel,  as  in  our  sturgeons  (ganoid),  and 
arranged  in  regular  rows,  the  posterior  edges  of  each  slightly 
overlapping  the  anterior  ones  of  the  next,  or  irregular  in 
their  shape,  and  separately  imbedded  in  the  skin  (placoid), 
as  in  the  sharks  and  rays  of  the  present  day.  With  rare 
exceptions  their  skeleton  was  cartilaginous ;  but  the  less  per- 
fect ossification  of  their  bones  was  amply  compensated  by  the 
solid  texture  of  their  enamelled  coat  of  mail,  which  afforded 
them  a  better  protection  against  enemies  and  injuries  from 
without  than  is  possessed  by  any  bony-skeletoned  fish  of  our 
days.  They  were,  in  fact,  comparatively  as  well  prepared 
for  a  hostile  encounter  as  an  ancient  knight  in  armour,  or  as 
one  of  our  modern  iron-plated  war  ships.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  these  mail-clad  Ganoids  was  the  P.terichthys 
Miller i  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  of  Scotland.     In  most  of 


14 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


our  fishes  the  pectoral  fins  are  but  weakly  developed ;  here 
they  constitute  real  arms,  moved  by  strong  muscles,  and 
resembling  the  paddle  of  the  turtle. 


PTERICHTHYS   1IILLERI  —  RESTORED.      (OLD  RED  SANDSTONE  OF  SCOTLAND.) 

Besides  the  enormous  masses  of  vegetable  matter  which 
distinguish  the  Carboniferous  period,  the  stone  beds  of  that 
formation  likewise  contain  a  vast  number  of  animal  remains. 
From  the  reptiles  and  fishes  down  to  the  corals  and  sponges, 
many  new  families,  genera,  and  species  crowd  upon  the 
scene,  while  many  of  the  previously  flourishing  races  have 
either  entirely  disappeared,  or  are  evidently  declining.  Thus 
the  Trilobites,  formerly  so  numerous,  are  reduced  to  a  few 
species  in  the  Carboniferous  period,  and  vanish  towards  its 
close. 

Iq  1847  the  oldest  known  reptiles  were  found  in  the  coal 
field  of  Saarbriick,  in  the  centre  of  spheroidal  concretions  of 


THE    PERMIAN    GROUP.  15 

clay  iron-stone,  which  not  only  faithfully  preserved  the 
skulls,  teeth,  and  the  greater  portions  of  the  skeletons  of  these 
ancient  lizards,  but  even  a  large  part  of  their  skin,  con- 
sisting of  long,  narrow,  wedge-shaped,  tile-like,  and  horny 
scales,  arranged  in  rows.  What  a  lesson  for  human  pride  ! 
The  pyramid  of  the  Pharaoh  Cheops,  reared  by  the  labour  of 
thousands  of  slaves,  has  been  unable  to  preserve  his  remains 
from  spoliation  even  for  the  short  space  of  a  few  thousand 
years,  and  here  a  vile  reptile  has  been  safely  imbedded  in  a 
sarcophagus  of  iron  ore  during  the  vast  period  of  many 
geological  formations. 

Still  more  recently  (1854)  other  wonders  have  been  brought 
to  light  in  the  clay  iron-stone  of  Saarbriick.  The  wing  of  a 
grasshopper,  with  all  its  nerves  as  distinctly  marked  as  if 
the  creature  had  been  hopping  about  but  yesterday,  some 
white  ants  or  termites  (now  confined  to  the  warmer  regions 
of  the  globe),  a  beetle,  and  several  cockroaches,  give  us  some 
idea  of  the  insects  that  lived  at  the  time  when  our  coal-beds 
were  forming.  Another  highly  interesting  circumstance,  re- 
lating to  the  fossils  of  that  distant  period,  is  that  in  several  of 
them  the  patterns  of  their  colouring  have  besn  preserved.  Thus 
Terebratula  hastata  often  retains  the  marks  of  the  original 
coloured  stripes  which  ornamented  the  living  shell.  In 
Aviculopecten  sublobatus  dark  stripes  alternate  with  a  light 
ground,  and  wavy  blotches  are  displayed  in  Pleurotomaria 
carinata.  From  these  facts  Professor  Forbes  inferred  that 
the  depth  of  the  seas  in  which  the  Mountain  Limestone  was 
formed  did  not  exceed  fifty  fathoms,  as  in  the  existing  seas 
the  Testacea,  which  have  shells  and  well-defined  patterns, 
rarely  inhabit  a  greater  depth. 

The  Magnesian  Limestone  or  Permian  group  is  remarkable 
chiefly  for  the  vast  number  of  fishes  that  have  been  found  in 
some  of  its  members,  such  as  the  marl  slate  of  Durham  and  the 
Kupferschiefer,  or  copper  slate,  of  Thuringia.  From  the  curved 
form  of  their  impressions,  as  if  they  had  been  spasmodically 
contracted,  the  fossil  fish  of  the  latter  locality  are  supposed  to 
have  perished  by  a  sudden  death  before  they  sank  down  into 
the  mud  in  which  they  were  entombed.  Probably  the  copper 
which  impregnates  the  stratum  in  which  they  occur  is  con- 
nected with   this  phenomenon.     Mighty  volcanic  eruptions 


MS 


THE    SUBTEREAXEAX    WORLD, 


corrupted  the  water  with  poisonous  metallic  salts,  and  de- 
stroyed in  a  short  time  whole  legions  of  its  finny  inhabitants. 
From  the  earliest  ages  the  corals  play  a  conspicuous  part 
in  fossil  history ;  and  as  in  our  days  we  find  them  encircling 
islands  and  fringing  continents  with  huge  ramparts  of  liine- 


VENTRIGTLITES  —FOSSIL  SPOXGE  (CHALK). 


stone,  so  many  an  ancient  reef,  now  far  inland,  and  raised 
several  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  bears  witness 
to  the  vast  terrestrial  changes  that  have  taken  place  since  it 
was  first  piled  up  by  the  growth  of  countless  zoophytes. 


SIFHOXIA  COSTA'I 


A— FOSSIL  SPOXGE  (GliEEX  BAWD,  WAPMIXSTEI!). 


With  regard  to  the  dimensions  of  the  fossil  corals  we  do 
not  find  that  any  of  them  exceeded  in  size  their  modern 
relatives ;  but  their  construction  was  widely  different. 


PETROSPONGID.E    AXD    CRIXOIDS. 


17 


The  fossil  sponges  of  the  primitive  seas  are  likewise  very 
unlike  those  of  the  present  da}'. 

Thus  in  all  the  ancient  strata  we  find  abundant  spongidse 
with  a  stony  skeleton,  while  all  the  modern  sponges  possess 
a  horny  frame.  The  Petrospongidse,  or  stone  sponges,  which 
have  long  since  disappeared,  are  frequently  shapeless  masses  ; 
but  a  large  number  are  cup-shaped,  with  a  central  tubular 
cavity,  lined,  as  well  as  the  outer  surface,  with  pores  more  or 
less  regularly  arranged. 

The  Crinoids,  or  Sea-lilies, now  almost  entirely  extinct,  were 


KNCRTXI'S  LTLTTFOTIMTP. 
(Musehelkalk,  Germany.) 


r-EN-TAcnixrs  imiAKEr 


extremely  common  in  the  primeval  seas.     Unlike  our  modern 
sea-stars,  to  which  they  are  allies,  they  did  not  move  about 

c 


18 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


freely  from  place  to  place,  but  were  affixed,  like  flowers,  to  a 
slender  flexible  stalk,  composed  of  numerous  calcareous  joints 
connected  together  by  a  fleshy  coat.  The  Carboniferous 
Mountain  Limestone  is  loaded  with  their  remains,  and  the 
Encrinus  liliiformis  is  one  of  the  leading  fossils  of  the  Mus- 
chelkalk  of  the  Triassic  group.  The  Pentacrinus  briareus  is 
of  more  modern  date,  and  occurs  in  tangled  masses,  forming 
thin  beds  of  considerable  extent  in  the  Lower  Lias.  This 
beautiful  Crinoid,  with  its  innumerable  tentacular  arms, 
appears  to  have  been  frequently  attached  to  the  drift  wood 
of  the  Liassic  sea,  like  the  floating  barnacles  of  the  present 
day.  In  the  still  more  recent  Chalk  group  is  found  a  re- 
markable form  of  star-fish,  the  Marsupites  ornatus,  which 
resembles  in  all  respects  the  Crinoids, 
except  that  it  is  not  and  never  was 
provided  with  a  stem.  It  seems  to 
have  been  rolled  lazily  to  and  fro,  by 
the  influence  of  the  waves,  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea,  and  to  have  been  anchored  in 
its  place  by  the  action  of  gravity  alone. 
Of  all  the  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  organic  life,  none  perhaps  are 
more  remarkable  than  the  transforma- 
tions which  the  Cephalopod  molluscs  have 
undergone  during  the  various  geological 
eras.  In  the  more  ancient  Palaeozoic  seas 
flourished  the  Orthoceratites,  or  straight- 
chambered  shells,  resembling  a  nau- 
marsupttes  ornatus.  chalk,  ^^g  ^coiled.  In  the  Carboniferous 
ages  the  Goniatites  acquired  their  highest  development. 
These  shells  were  spirally  wound,  having  the  lobes  of  the 
chambers  free  from  lateral  denticulations  or  crenatures,  so  as 
to  form  continuous  and  uninterrupted  outlines. 

Both  Orthoceratites  and  Goniatites  disappear  in  the 
Triassic  times,  and  are  replaced  by  hosts  of  Ammonites,  which 
successively  flourished  in  more  than  600  species,  and  are 
characterised  by  an  external  siphon  and  chambers  of  com- 
plicated, often  foliated,  pattern.  This  foliated  structure  gives 
a  remarkable  character  to  the  intersection  of  the  chamber 
partitions  with  the  shell,  and  must  have  added  greatly  to  the 


AMMONITES    AND    BELEMNITES. 


19 


strength  of  the  shell,  which  was  always  delicate  and  often 
very  beautiful.  The  Ammonites,  which  made  their  first 
appearance  towards  the  end  of  the  Triassic  period,  abounded 
in  the  Oolitic  and  Cretaceous  periods,  and  were  replaced  by 
new  forms  before  the  Tertiary  beds  were  deposited.  Among 
these  we  find  the  Ancyloc&ras  gigas,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  an  Ammonite  partially  unrolled,  and  the  Turrilites  tuber- 
culatus,  which  has  the  form  and  peculiar  symmetry  of  a 
univalve  shell. 


•rrmuuTEs  TcuKitrirLATUs, 


n !•:>)•( i i:k;>  i;i-.i. i:\im 


In  several  of  the  older  rocks,  especially  the  Lias  and  Oolite, 
Belemnites  are  frequently  met  with.  These  singular  dart-  or 
arrow-shaped  fossils  were  supposed  by  the  ancients  to  be  the 
thunderbolts  of  Jove,  but  are  now  known  to  be  the  petrified 
internal  bones  of  a  race  of  voracious  cuttle-fishes,  whose 
importance  in  the  Oolitic  or  Cretaceous  Seas  may  be  judged 
of  by  the  frequency  of  their  remains  and  the  1 20  species  that 
have  been  hitherto  discovered. 

Belemnites  two  feet  long  have  been  found,  so  that,  to  judge 
by  analogies,  the  animals  to  which  they  belonged  as  cuttle- 


20  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

bones  must  have  measured  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  from  end 
to  end.  Provided  with  prehensile  hooks  on  their  long  arms, 
and  with  a  formidable  parrot-like  bill,  these  huge  creatures 
must  have  proved  most  dangerous  antagonists,  even  to  the 
well-protected  fishes  that  lived  in  the  same  seas.  But  of  all 
the  denizens  of  the  Mesozoic  Ocean  none  were  more  powerful 
than  the  large  marine  or  enaliosaurian  reptiles,  which, flourish- 
ing throughout  the  whole  of  the  Triassic  period,  were  lords 
of  all  they  surveyed  down  to  the  end  of  the  Cretaceous 
epoch.  First  among  these  monsters  appears  the  gigantic 
Ichthyosaurus,  which  has  been  found  no  less  than  forty  feet 


I'.'UTHYOSAtKUS    COMMUNIS. 


long — a  creature  half  fish,  half  lizard,  and  combining,  in 
strange  juxtaposition,  the  snout  of  the  porpoise,  the  teeth  of 
the  crocodile,  and  the  paddles  of  the  whale.  But  the  most 
remarkable  of  its  features  is  the  eye,  surpassing  a  man's  head 
in  size,  ancj.  wonderfully  adapted  for  vision  both  far  and 
near. 

In  the  quarries  of  Caen  in  Normandy,  at  Lyme  Regis  in 
Dorsetshire,  and  particularly  at  Kloster  Banz  in  Franconia, 
where  the  largest  known  specimen  has  been  discovered,  entire 
skeletons  of  the  formidable  Ichthyosaurus  have  been  ex- 
humed from  the  Liassic  shale — memorials  of  the  ages  long 
since  past,  when  lands  now  far  removed  from  the  ocean  still 
lay  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  formed  the  domain  of 
gigantic  lizards.  The  enormous  jaw-bones  of  the  Ichthyo- 
sauri, which  in  the  full-grown  animal  could  be  opened  seven 
feet  wide,  were  armed  along  their  whole  length  with  powerful 
conical  teeth,  showing  them  to  have  been  carnivorous,  and 
the  half-digested  remains  of  fishes  and  reptiles  found  within 
their  skeletons  indicate  the  precise  nature  of  their  food.  The 
size  of  the  swallowed  object  proves  also  that  the  cavity  of 


PTERODACTYLES. 


21 


the  stomach  must  have  corresponded  with  the  wide  opening 
of  the  jaws.  Thus  powerfully  equipped  for  offensive  warfare  ; 
excellent  swimmers  from  their  compressed  cuneiform  trunk, 
their  long  broad  paddles,  and  their  stout  vertical  tail-fin  ; 
provided,  moreover,  with 
eyes  capable  of  piercing 
the  dim  light  of  the 
ocean  depths,  they  must 
have  been  formidable 
indeed  to  the  contem- 
poraneous fishes. 

The  Ichthyosaurus 
was  admirably  formed 
for  cleaving  the  waves 
of  an  agitated  sea ;  but 
the  Plesiosaurus  was 
equally  well  organised 
for  pursuing  its  prey  in 
shallow  creeks  and  bays 
defended  from  heavy 
breakers.  Its  long 
swan -like  neck  no  doubt 
enabled  it  to  drag  many 
a  victim  from  its  hid- 
ing-place. While  these 
huge  lizards  were  the 
terror  of  the  seas,  the 
Pterodactyles,  a  race  of 
winged  lizards,  armed 
with  long  jaws  and 
sharp  teeth,  hovered  in 
the  air.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  the  greatly 
elongated  fifth  finger, 
to  which,  as  well  as  to  the  whole  length  of  the  arm  and 
body,  the  membranous  wing  or  organ  of  flight  was  attached, 
the  fingers  of  this  strange  animal  were  provided  with  sharp 
claws,  so  that  it  was  probably  enabled,  like  the  bat,  to  sus- 
pend itself  from  precipitous  rock-walls. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  whereas  the  Pterodactyles  of 


PLESIOSAURUS   DOLICHODEIRUS, 

(British  Museum— Found  in  the  Lias  of  Street,  near 
Glastonbuiy.) 


•22  Till:   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  older  Lias  beds  did  not  exceed  ten  or  twelve  inches  in 
length,  the  later  forms,  found  fossil  in  the  Greensand  and 
Wealden  beds  of  the  Lower  Cretaceous  formation,  must  have 
been  at  least  16^  feet  long.  That  these  reptiles  were  not 
the  only  vertebrated  animals  capable  of  hovering  in  the  air 
at  the  time  when  the  huge  Ichthyosaurus  was  lord  of  the 
seas,  is  proved  by  a  bird  about  the  size  of  a  rook,  which  was 
discovered  in  1862,  in  the  lithographic  slate  of  Solenhofen 
in  Bavaria,  a  stone-bed  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  Upper 
Oolite.  The  skeleton  of  this  valuable  specimen,  now  in  the 
British  Museum,  is  almost  entire,  with  the  exception  of  the 
head,  and  retains  even  its  feathers.  Still  older  fossil  mam- 
malia have  been  found  near  Stuttgard,  in  the  uppermost  bed  of 
the  Triassic  deposits,  and  in  the  Lower  Oolite  of  Oxfordshire. 
These  interesting  remains,  which  carry  back  the  existence  of 
the  mammals  to  a  very  remote  period,  belong  to  small 
marsupial,  or  opossum-like,  animals.  The  jaws,  which  are  the 
principal  parts  preserved,  are  exceedingly  minute,  and  re- 
markable for  the  number  and  distribution  of  their  teeth, 
which  prove  them  to  have  been  either  insectivorous  or 
rodent. 

The  remains  of  the  Ichthyosauri  and  Plesiosauri  occur 
chiefly  in  the  Liassic  group,  but  the  more  recent  Cretaceous 
(Wealden)  formation  is  distinguished  by  the  presence  of  still 
more  enormous  land  saurians.  On  their  massive  legs  and 
unwieldy  feet  these  monsters  stood  much  higher  than  aii}r 
reptile  of  our  days,  and  resembled  in  bulk  and  stature  the 
elephants  of  the  present  world. 

The  carnivorous  Megalosaurus  (for  its  sharply  serrated 
teeth  indicate  this  mode  of  life)  appears  to  have  preceded 
the  gigantic  Iguanodon,  whose  dentition  denotes  a  vegetable 
food.  Like  the  giant  sloths  of  South  America — the  Mega- 
therium and  the  Mylodon — the  Iguanodon  was  provided 
with  a  long  prehensile  tongue  and  fleshy  lips  to  seize  the 
leaves  and  branches  on  which  it  fed.  Professor  Owen  esti- 
mates its  probable  length  at  between  fifty  and  sixty  feet, 
and  to  judge  by  the  proportions  of  its  extremities,  and  par- 
ticularly of  its  huge  feet,  it  must  have  exceeded  the  bulk  of 
the  elephant  eightfold. 

During  the  following  Upper  Cretaceous  epoch  flourished 


THE    DINOTIIEKIUM.  23 

the  Mosasaurus,  a  marine  saurian,  first  discovered  in  the 
quarries  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  near  Maestricht,*  and  supposed 
to  have  been  twenty- four  feet  in  length.  Bat  the  supremacy 
of  the  reptiles  was  now  drawing  to  its  close,  and  in  the 
Tertiary  period  we  at  length  see  the  Mammalia  assume  a 
prominent  place  on  the  scene  of  life.  The  oldest  of  these 
tertiary  quadrupeds  differ  so  widely  from  those  of  the  present 
day  as  to  form  distinct  genera.  The  PalaBotheriums,  for 
instance,  of  which  there  are  seventeen  species,  varying  in 
dimensions  from  the  size  of  a  rhinoceros  to  that  of  a  hog, 
combine  in  their  skeleton  many  of  the  characters  of  the 
tapir,  the  rhinoceros,  and  the  horse,  while  the  Anoplo- 
theriums,  whose  size  varied  from  that  of  a  hare  to  that  of  a 
dwarf  ass,  resembled  in  some  respects  the  rhinoceros  and 
the  horse,  and  in  others  the  hippopotamus,  the  hog,  and  the 
camel. 

In  the  Miocene  epoch  many  of  these  more  ancient  quad- 
rupeds no  longer  appear  upon  the  scene,  while  others  still 
flourish  in  its  upper  period  along  with  still  existing  genera, 
and  with  forms  long  since  extinct,  such  as  the  Dinotherium. 
This  huge  animal  is  particularly  remarkable  for  its  two  large 
and  heavy  tusks,  placed  at  the  extremity  of  the  lower  jaw,  and 
curved  downwards  like  those  in  the  upper  jaw  of  the  walrus. 
It  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  an  herbivorous  cretacean,  and 
to  have  used  its  anterior  limbs  principally  in  the  act  of 
digging  for  roots.  The  remains  on  which  these  speculations 
wrere  founded  were  the  huge  jaws  and  shoulder-blade  dis- 
covered at  Epplesheim  in  Hesse  Darmstadt ;  but  an  immense 
pelvis  of  the  animal,  measuring  six  feet  in  breadth  and  four 
and  a  quarter  feet  in  height,  discovered  by  Father  Sanno  Solaro, 
in  the  department  of  the  Haute  Garonne,  proves  that  this 
supposed  aquatic  pachyderm  was  a  gigantic  marsupial,  and 
that  the  dependent  trunks  of  the  unwieldy  animal,  instead  of 
serving  the  purpose  of  anchoring  it  to  the  banks  of  rivers, 
answered  the  more  homely,  but  equally  important  office,  of 
lifting  the  young  into  the  maternal  pouch.  '  The  remarkable 
history  of  the  successive  discovery  of  its  bunes,'  says  Pro- 
fessor Haughton,  i  and  the  change  of  views  consequent  there- 
upon, should  teach  geologists  modesty  in  the  expression  of 

*  Chapter  XXXVIII. 


24  TIII<:    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

their  opinion.'  During-  this  period  also  flourished  in  India, 
along  with  many  other  strange  forms  of  life,  the  Colossochelvs 
Atlas,  a  tortoise  of  the  most  gigantic  proportions,  measuring, 
probably,  nearly  twenty  feet  on  the  curve  of  the  carapace, 
and  dwarfing  into  insignificance  the  great  Indian  tortoise  of 
the  present  day. 

The  nearer  we  approach  our  own  times,  the  greater  be- 
comes the  proportion  of  still  existing  genera  and  species;  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  as  early  as  the  Pliocene  epoch  we  find 
a  geographical  distribution  of.  mammalian  life  analogous 
to  that  which  now  characterises  the  various  regions  of  the 
earth. 

Thus  the  fossil  monkeys  of  South  America  have  the 
nostrils  wide  apart  like  all  the  existing  simise  of  the  new 
world,  and  fossil  monkeys  with  approximated  nostrils,  the 
characteristic  mark  of  all  the  old  world  quadrumana,  are 
exclusively  found  in  Asia  and  in  Europe,  where  now  a  small 
species  of  monkey  is  confined  to  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar,  but 
where,  in  the  Upper  Miocene  times,  large  long-armed  apes, 
equalling  man  in  stature,  lived  in  the  oak  forests  of  France. 
Thus  also  South  America,  where  alone  sloths  and  armadilloes 
exist  at  the  present  day,  is  the  only  part  of  the  world  where, 
in  the  younger  tertiary  rocks,  the  remains  of  analogous 
mammals — the  Megatherium,  the  Mylodon,  and  the  Glyp- 
todon — have  been  found. 

The  Mylodon  was  a  colossal  sloth,  eleven  feet  long  and 
with  a  corresponding  girth.  When  we  consider  the  huge 
size  of  the  pelvis  and  the  massiveness  of  the  limbs,  we  must 
needs  conclude  that  Professor  Owen  could  not  possibly  have 
given  the  unwieldy  animal  a  more  appropriate  surname  than 
that  of  robustus. 

The  Megatherium  was  of  still  larger  size.  Its  length  was 
as  much  as  eighteen  ieet,  the  breadth  of  its  pelvis  was  six 
feet,  and  the  tail,  where  it  was  attached  to  the  body,  must 
have  measured  six  feet  in  circumference.  The  thigh  bone 
was  nearly  three  times  as  great  as  that  of  the  largest  known 
elephant,  the  bones  of  the  instep  and  those  of  the  foot  being 
also  of  corresponding  size.  The  general  proportions  both  of 
the  Megatherium  and  Mylodon  resembled  those  of  the  ele- 
phant, the  body  being  relatively  as  large,  the  legs  shorter 


THE    MEGATHERIUM.  25 

and  thicker,  and  the  neck  very  little  longer.  The  Mega- 
therium may  have  had  a  short  proboscis,  but  the  Mylodon 
exhibits  no  mark  of  such  contrivance. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  bulk  and  construction  of  these  huge 
animals,  that  they  did  not,  like  the  sloths  of  the  present  day, 
crawl  along  the  under  side  of  the  boughs  till  they  had 
reached  a  commodious  feeding  place,  but  that,  firmly  seated 
on  the  strong  tripod  of  their  two  hind  legs  and  powerful 
tail,  they  uprooted  trees  or  wrenched  off  branches  with  their 
fore  limbs,  which  were  well  adapted  for  grasping  the  trunk 
or  larger  branches  of  a  tree.  The  long  and  powerful  claws 
were  also,  no  doubt,  useful  in  the  preliminary  process  of 
scratching  away  the  soil  from  the  roots  of  the  trees  to  be 
prostrated.  This  task  accomplished,  the  long  and  curved 
fore  claws  would  next  be  applied  to  the  opposite  sides  of  the 
loosened  trunk.  '  The  tree  being  thus  partly  undermined  and 
firmly  grappled  with,  the  muscles  of  the  trunk,  the  pelvis, 
and  hind  limbs,  animated  by  the  nervous  influence  of  the 
unusually  large  spinal  cord,  would  combine  their  forces 
with  those  of  the  anterior  members  in  the  efforts  at  prostra- 
tion. If  now  we  picture  to  ourselves  the  massive  frame  of 
the  Megatherium,  convulsed  with  the  mighty  wrestling, 
every  vibrating  fibre  reacting  upon  its  bony  attachment  with 
a  force  which  the  sharp  and  strong  crests  and  apophyses 
loudly  bespeak,  we  may  suppose  that  that  tree  must  have 
been  strong  indeed  which,  rocked  to  and  fro,  to  right  and 


GLYPTODON  CLAVIPES. 

left,  in  such  an  embrace,  could  long  withstand  the  efforts  of 
its  ponderous  assailant.' 

The   Glyptodon,  a   colossal   armadillo  of  the  size  of  an 


26  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

ox,  was  covered  with  a  thick  heavy  tessellated  bony  armour, 
which,  when  detached  from  the  body,  resembled  the  section 
of  a  large  cask.  This  harness  measured  on  its  curve  from 
head  to  tail  at  least  six  feet,  and  four  feet  from  side  to  side, 
so  that  a  Laplander  might  have  squatted  comfortably  under 
its  roof. 

In  the  superficial  deposits  of  diluvial  drift,  in  Germany 
and  England,  in  Italy  and  Spain,  in  Northern  Asia  as  well 
as  in  North  America,  between  the  latitudes  of  40°  and  75°, 
the  bones  of  the  large  extinct  Pachyderms  have  been  found, 
and  become  more  and  more  abundant  as  we  approach  the 
ice-bound  regions  within  the  Arctic  Circle.  The  Siberian 
tundras,  and  the  islands  in  the  Polar  Sea  beyond,  are,  above 
all,  so  rich  in  the  fossil  remains  of  the  Mammoth,  or 
primitive  elephant,  that  its  tusks  form  a  not  unimportant 
branch  of  commerce.  From  the  presence  of  so  large  an 
animal  in  treeless  wilds,  where  now  only  small  rodents  or 
their  persecutors,  the  Arctic  fox  and  snow  owl,  find  the 
means  of  subsistence,  it  has  been  inferred  that  Siberia  must 
in  those  times  have  enjoyed  a  tropical  climate;  but  many 
weighty  arguments  have  been  arrayed  against  this  opinion. 
The  musk-ox,  it  is  well  known,  prefers  the  stinted  herbage 
of  the  Arctic  regions,  while  the  allied  buffalo  can  only  thrive 
in  a  warm  country,  and  different  species  of  bears  are  found 
in  all  zones ;  so  also  the  primitive  elephant  was  formed  for 
a  temperate  or  cold  climate.  Instead  of  being  naked,  like 
his  living  Asiatic  and  African  relations,  the  Mammoth  was 
covered  with  a  warm  clothing,  well  fitted  to  brave  a  low 
temperature,  a  fact  sufficiently  proved  by  the  carcass  of  one 
of  these  animals  which  was  found,  in  the  year  1803,  imbed- 
ded in  a  mass  of  ice  on  the  bank  of  the  Lena  in  latitude 
70°.  Its  skin  was  covered  first  with  black  bristles,  thicker 
than  horse-hair,  from  twelve  to  sixteen  inches  in  length, 
secondly  with  hair  of  a  reddish-brown  colour,  about  four 
inches  long,  and  thirdly  with  wool  of  the  same  colour  as 
the  hair,  about  an  inch  in  length. 

The  discoveries  of  Middendorff  on  the  banks  of  the  Taymur 
likewise  show  that  in  those  times  the  climate  of  Siberia  was 
by  no  means  tropical,  for  in  latitude  75°  15'  he  found  the 
trunk  of  a  larch  imbedded  with  the  bones  of  a  Mammoth  in 


THE    MASTODON.  27 

an  alluvial  stratum  fifteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Fragments  of  pine  leaves  have  likewise  been  extracted  from 
cavities  in  the  molar  teeth  of  a  fossil  rhinoceros,  discovered 
on  the  banks  of  the  Wiljui,  in  latitude  64°.  The  numerous 
land  and  freshwater  shells  accompanying  the  Mammoth  in 
the  highest  latitudes  are  also,  almost  without  exception, 
identical  with  those  now  existing  in  Siberia. 

The  Mastodon,  though  not  uncommon  among  the  fossils 
of  the  old  world,  is  more  abundantly  found  in  North  America. 
The  molar  teeth  of  this  huge  animal,  whose  grinding  surfaces 
had  their  crowns  studded  with  conical  eminences,  more  or 
less  resembling  the  teats  of  a  cow,  differed  greatly  from  the 
flat-crowned  grinders  of  the  Mammoth ;  but  both  had  twenty 
ribs  like  the  living  elephant,  and  must  have  been  similar  in 
size  and  general  appearance.  The  body  of  the  Mastodon 
would  seem  to  have  been  longer,  its  limbs  thicker  and 
shorter,  and,  perhaps,  its  form,  on  the  whole,  rather 
approaching  that  of  the  hippopotamus,  which  it  probably 
resembled  also  in  some  of  its  habits.  Its  mouth  was  broader 
than  that  of  the  elephant,  and  although  it  was  certainly 
provided  with  a  long  trunk,  it  must  have  lived  on  soft 
succulent  food,  and  it  seems  to  have  rarely  left  the  marshes 
and  muddy  ponds,  in  which  it  would  find  ample  food. 

The  most  complete,  and  probably  the  largest,  specimen  of 
the  Mastodon  ever  found  was  exhumed  in  1845,  in  the  town 
of  Newbury,  New  York,  the  length  of  the  skeleton  being 
twenty-five  feet,  and  its  height  twelve  feet.  From  another 
specimen,  found  in  the  same  year,  in  Warren  County,  New 
Jersey,  the  clay  in  the  interior  within  the  ribs,  just  where 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  might  naturally  have  been 
looked  for,  furnished  some  bushels  of  vegetable  substance. 
A  microscopic  examination  proved  this  matter  to  consist  of 
pieces  of  small  twigs  of  a  coniferous  tree  of  the  cypress 
family,  probably  the  young  shoots  of  the  white  cedar  (Thuja 
occidentalis)  which  is  still  a  native  of  North  America. 

This  interesting  discovery  likewise  proves  that  the  climate 
of  North  America  was  then,  like  that  of  Siberia,  not  very 
different  from  that  of  the  present  day. 

The  most  remarkable  of  the  fossil  Ruminants  are  found 
among  the  deer  tribe.    The  largest  of  these  is  the  Sivatherium 


•28  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

giganteum,  discovered  in  the  Tertiary  beds  of  the  sub- 
Himalayan  hills.  It  was  a  deer  with  four  horns,  and,  to 
judge  by  the  size  of  its  bones,  must  have  exceeded  the 
elephant  in  its  dimensions.  Near  this  huge  'antlered 
monarch  of  the  waste '  the  extinct  Cervus  megaceros,  found 
in  the  bogs  and  shallow  marls  of  Ireland,  appears  as  a  mere 
dwarf,  in  spite  of  its  large  branching  palmate  horns,  often 
weighing  eighty  pounds,  and  a  corresponding  stature  far 
exceeding  that  of  our  modern  deer. 

The  colossal  size  of  many  of  the  extinct  plants  and  animals 
might  seem  to  favour  the  belief  that  organic  life  has  degene- 
rated from  its  former  powers;  but  a  survey  of  existing 
creation  soon  proves  the  vital  principle  to  be  as  strong  and 
nourishing  as  ever. 

No  fossil  tree  has  yet  been  found  to  equal  the  towering 
height  of  the  huge  Sequoias  and  Wellingtonias  of  California; 
and  though  the  Horsetails  and  Clubmosses  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous ages  may  well  be  called  colossal  when  compared  with 
their  diminutive  representatives  of  the  present  day,  yet  their 
height  by  no  means  exceeded  that  of  the  tall  bamboo  of 
India.  No  fossil  bivalve  is  as  large  as  the  Tridacna  of  the 
tropical  seas ;  and  though  our  nautilus  is  a  mere  pigmy  when 
compared  with  many  of  the  Ammonites,  our  naked  cuttle- 
fishes are  probably  as  bulky  as  those  of  any  of  the  former 
geological  formations.  The  living  crustaceans  and  fishes  are 
not  inferior  to  their  predecessors  in  size,  and  though  the 
giant  saurians  of  the  past  were  much  larger  than  our 
crocodiles,  yet  they  do  not  completely  dwarf  them  by  com- 
parison. The  extinct  Dinornis*  far  surpassed  the  ostrich  in 
size,  but  the  Mammoth  and  the  Mastodon  find  their  equal  in 
our  elephant ;  and  though  the  sloths  of  the  present  day  are 
mere  pigmies  when  compared  with  the  Megatherium,  yet  no 
extinct  mammal  attains  the  size  of  the  Greenland  whale. 

The  perfect  preservation  of  so  many  fossil  remains  of 
animals  and  plants,  which  enables  us  to  trace  the  progress 
of  organic  life  on  earth  from  one  vast  epoch  to  another,  is 
surely  wonderful  enough ;  but  we  must  consider  it  as  a  still 
greater  wonder  that  phenomena  usually  so  evanescent  as 
foot-prints,   ripple-marks,   and   rain-prints  should    in    some 

*  Chapter  XIX. 


SUCCESSION    OF  SPECIES.  29 

cases  have  been  permanently  engraved  in  stone,  and  appear 
as  distinct  after  millions  of  years  as  if  their  traces  had  been 
left  but  yesterday.  All  these  marks  were  at  first  printed  on 
soft  argillaceous  mud,  on  the  sea- shore,  or  on  the  borders  of 
lakes  and  rivers,  which  retained  them  as  they  became  dry. 
Sand  or  clay  having  then  been  drifted  into  the  mould  by  the 
wind,  or  deposited  in  its  cavity  by  the  next  tide,  a  permanent 
cast  was  made,  indented  in  the  lower  stratum  and  standing 
out  in  relief  on  the  upper  one. 

Thus  rain-drops  on  greenish  slates  of  the  Coal  period,  with 
several  worm  tracks,  such  as  usually  accompany  rain-marks 
on  the  recent  mud  of  modern  beaches,  have  been  discovered 
near  Sydney,  in  Cape  Breton.  As  the  drops  resemble  in  their 
average  size  those  which  now  fall  from  the  clouds,  we  may 
presume  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  Carboniferous  period 
corresponded  in  density  with  that  now  investing  the  globe, 
and  that  different  currents  of  air  varied  then  as  now  in 
temperature,  so  as,  by  their  mixture,  to  give  rise  to  the 
condensation  of  aqueous  vapour. 

In  like  manner  it  has  been  possible  to  detect  the  foot- 
prints of  reptiles,  even  in  shales  as  old  as  the  Cambrian 
formation,  and  to  follow  their  trail  as  they  walked  or  crawled 
along. 

In  the  Upper  New  Eed  Sandstone  (Lower  Trias),  near 
Hildburghausen,  in  Saxony,  a  strange  unknown  animal, 
supposed  to  belong  to  the  frog  order,  has  left  foot-prints 
bearing  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  impressions  made  by 
a  human  hand ;  and  in  the  still  older  red  sandstone  of 
Connecticut,  a  gigantic  bird  has  marked  a  foot  four  times 
larger  than  that  of  the  ostrich.  It  existed  long  before  the 
Ichthyosaurus  was  seen  on  earth,  and  yet  by  a  singular 
chance  its  traces,  printed  on  a  foundation  proverbially  un- 
stable, have  outlived  the  wreck  of  so  many  ages. 

However  brief  and  defective  the  foregoing  review  of  the 
fossil  world  may  have  been,  it  has  still  sufficed  to  point  out 
the  existence  on  our  planet  of  so  many  habitable  surfaces, 
each  distinct  in  time,  and  peopled  with  its  peculiar  races  of 
aquatic  and  terrestrial  beings,  all  admirably  fitted  for  the 
new  states  of  the   globe  as  they  a/rose,  or  they  would  not 


30  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

have   increased  and  multiplied   and  endured   for  indefinite 
periods. 

'  The  proofs  now  accumulated,'  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  '  of 
the  close  analogy  between  extinct  and  recent  species  are 
such  as  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind  that  the  same 
harmony  of  parts  and  beauty  of  contrivance  which  we  admire 
in  the  living  creation  has  equally  characterised  the  organic 
world  at  remote  periods.  Thus,  as  we  increase  our  knowledge 
of  the  inexhaustible  variety  displayed  in  living  nature,  our 
admiration  is  multiplied  by  the  reflection  that  it  is  only  the 
last  of  a  great  series  of  pre-existing  creations,  of  which  we 
cannot  estimate  the  number  or  limit  in  times  past.' 


31 


CHAPTEE   III. 

SUBTERRANEAN    HEAT. 

Zone  of  invariable  Temperature — Increasing  Temperature  of  the  Earth  at  a 
greater  Depth — Proofs  found  in  Mines  and  Artesian  Wells,  in  Hot  Springs 
and  Volcanic  Eruptions — The  whole  Earth  probably  at  one  time  a  fluid 
mass. 

BORN  neither  to  soar  into  the  air,  nor  to  inhabit  the 
deep  waters,  nor  to  pass  his  life  in  subterranean  dark- 
ness, man  is  unable  to  depart  to  any  considerable  distance 
from  the  earth's  surface.  If  he  ascends  in  a  balloon,  he  soon 
reaches  the  limits  where  the  rarefied  atmosphere  renders 
breathing  impossible;  a  few  thousand  feet  limit  his  efforts 
to  pierce  the  earth's  crust ;  and  should  he  be  cast  out  into 
the  sea,  he  is  soon  drowned.  But  beyond  the  limits  to  which 
his  body  is  confined,  his  mind  soars  into  space,  and  plunging 
into  the  unknown  interior  of  our  globe,  seeks  to  unravel  the 
mystery  of  its  formation.  In  the  following  pages  I  purpose 
briefly  to  point  out  the  circumstances  which  guide  him  in 
his  speculations,  and  enable  him  to  roam,  at  least  in  spirit, 
through  the  profound  abysses  of  the  subterranean  world. 

As  we  all  know,  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere  soon 
communicates  its  changes  to  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and 
our  meadows,  which  when  warmed  by  the  rays  of  the  sun 
are  green  and  covered  with  flowers,  harden  in  winter  into  a 
lifeless  plain.  But  the  influence  of  the  sun's  heat  upon  the 
soil  is  merely  superficial,  so  that  in  the  temperate  zones  the 
annual  fluctuations  of  the  thermometer  are  no  longer  per- 
ceptible at  a  depth  of  from  60  to  80  feet. 

Thus,  in  the  cellars  of  the  Parisian  observatory,  a  thermo- 
meter, placed  many  years  ago  86  feet  below  the  surface, 
invariably  indicates  4- 1 1°7  Celsius  ;  the  summer  above  may 
be   ever  so  intensely  hot,  or  the   winter  ever  so   cold,  the 


32  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

column  of  mercury  never  deviates  a  hair's  breadth  from  the 
height  it  has  once  attained.  Below  these  limits  the  warmth 
of  the  earth  gradually  increases — a  fact  placed  beyond  all 
doubt  by  the  innumerable  observations  that  have  been  made  in 
mines,  and  during  the  boring  of  Artesian  wells.  For  wherever 
sinkings  have  been  made,  a  rising  of  the  thermometer  has 
always  been  found  to  take  place  as  the  auger  penetrates  to  a 
greater  depth  below  the  surface.  Thus,  to  cite  but  a  few 
examples,  the  temperature  of  the  Artesian  well  of  Grenelle  in 
Paris,  which,  at  a  depth  of  917  French  feet,  amounted  to 
-f  22°2  C.j  increased  at  the  depth  of  1,555  feet  to  -+•  26°43,  and 
the  water,  which  now  gashes  forth  from  the  depth  of  1,684 
feet,  constantly  maintains  the  same  lukewarm  temperature  of 
+  27°70. 

During  the  boring  of  the  well  of  Neusalzwerk,  in  West- 
phalia, the  temperature  rose  at  the  various  depths  of  530, 
1,285,  and  1,935  feet  from  +19°7  C.  to  -f  27°5  and  +  31°4, 
until,  finally,  when  the  depth  of  2,144  feet  was  attained,  the 
saline  spring  issued  forth  with  a  constant  temperature  of 
H-83°6.  As  from  the  experience  acquired  in  mines  and 
Artesian  wells,  the  temperature  is  found  to  increase  by  one 
degree  for  about  every  successive  80  or  100  feet,  the 
internal  warmth  of  the  earth,  supposing  it  to  increase  in  the 
same  proportion  towards  the  centre,  would,  at  the  depth  of 
10,000  feet,  be  equal  to  that  of  boiling  w^ater,  and  at  that  of 
80  or  100  miles  sufficiently  great  to  melt  the  hardest  rock. 

Whether  this  steady  increase  really  takes  place  is  of  course 
only  matter  of  conjecture  ;  but  the  history  of  hot  springs 
and  volcanic  eruptions  shows  us  that  everywhere  a  very  high 
degree  of  heat  exists  at  considerable  depths  below  the 
surface. 

Most  springs  in  the  temperate  zone,  without  being  warm 
in  a  remarkable  degree,  still  possess  a  higher  temperature 
than  the  average  warmth  of  the  air  in  the  locality  where 
they  gush  forth,  while  in  the  tropical  zone  they  are  fre- 
quently cooler —a  proof  that  in  both  cases  they  issue  from  a 
depth  independent  of  the  fluctuating  atmospherical  influences 
of  the  surface.  While  these  cool  or  cold  springs,  spread  in 
immense  numbers  over  the  earth,  attest  the  existence  every- 
where of  a  subterranean  source  of  heat,  the  warm  and  hot 


EXTENT    OF    VOLCANIC  ACTION.  33 

springs  remind  us  of  its  intensity  at  more  considerable 
depths.  These  thermal  sources  are  confined  to  no  climate,  for 
in  the  cold  land  of  the  Tschuktschi,  where  the  soil  must  be 
perpetually  frozen  to  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet,  boiling 
water  is  found  to  gush  forth,  as  well  as  in  the  tropical  Feejee 
Islands. 

The  hot  springs,  though  of  frequent  occurrence  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  are  not  the  only  or  principal  vents  of 
subterranean  heat.  Far  greater  quantities  of  caloric  are 
constantly  pouring  forth  from  the  numerous  volcanoes  and 
solfataras,  which  are  likewise  distributed  all  over  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  The  violent  convulsions  which  attend  every 
outflow  of  lava  are  proofs  that  these  torrents  of  liquid  stone 
must  have  been  forced  upwards  from  a  far  greater  depth 
than  the  water  of  the  hot  springs.  The  temperature 
necessary  for  their  production  likewise  points  to  this  fact, 
for  to  melt  stones  a  heat  of  at  least  2,000°  C.  is  required. 
But  volcanoes,  like  hot  springs,  are  found  in  every  zone; 
beyond  the  Arctic  Circle,  as  well  as  in  the  most  southern 
land  attained  by  Sir  James  Eoss  in  his  memorable  voyage. 
They  line  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
Sea  of  Kamtschatka.  They  desolate  Iceland,  as  they  de- 
voured Pompeii  and  Herculaneum ;  and  everywhere  they 
pour  forth  the  same  masses  of  fluid  stone ;  so  that  the 
geologist  is  not  able  to  distinguish  the  lavas  of  the  Andes 
chain  from  those  of  Etna  or  Vesuvius.  But  phenomena  so 
much  alike  in  character,  common  to  all  parts  of  the  globe, 
can  hardly  be  dependent  upon  mere  local  circumstances,  and 
speak  loudly  in  favour  of  the  theory  which  supposes  our 
earth  to  have  been  at  one  time  a  ball  of  liquid  fire. 
Wandering  through  space  during  a  course  of  unnumbered 
ages,  this  huge  mass  of  molten  stones  and  metals  gradually 
cooled,  and  at  length  got  covered  with  a  solid  crust,  below 
which  the  ancient  furnaces  are  still  burning,  and  striving  to 
burst  their  fetters.     Well  may  we  say  with  Horace — 

'  Tncedimus  per  ignes 
Suppositos  cineri  cloloso.' 


34  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

SUBTERRANEAN  UPHEAVALS  AND  DEPRESSIONS. 

Oscillations  of  the  Earth's  Surface  taking  place  in  the  present  day — First 
ascertained  in  Sweden — Examples  of  Contemporaneous  Upheaval  and  Depression 
in  France  and  England — Probable  Causes  of  the  Phenomenon. 

WHILE  the  sea  and  the  atmospheric  ocean  are  subject  to 
perpetual  fluctuations,  and  the  poet  justly  compares 
the  uncertain  tenure  of  human  prosperity  with  the  restless 
wave  or  the  inconstant  wind,  the  solid  earth  is  generally 
regarded  as  the  emblem  of  stability.  But  an  examination 
of  the  various  strata  of  aqueous  origin  which  constitute  by 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  actual  dry  land  soon  shows  the 
fallacy  of  this  opinion. 

The  fossils  of  marine  origin  which  occur  in  so  many  of  our 
oldest  rocks,  now  situated  far  above  the  level  of  the  ocean, 
must  necessarily  have  been  raised  from  the  deep.  On  the 
towering  Andes,  fifteen  thousand  feet  above  the  tide-marks 
of  the  Pacific,  the  geologist  finds  sea-shells  imbedded  in  the 
rock,  and  high  above  the  snow-line  the  chamois-hunter  of 
the  Alps  wonders  at  the  sight  of  spirally- wound  Ammonites 
that  once  enjoyed  life  at  the  bottom  of  the  Liassic  Sea.  In 
strata  of  a  more  modern  date,  we  find,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Senegal,  far  inland,  large  deposits  of  the  Area  senilis,  a 
mollusc  still  living  on  the  neighbouring  coast.  On  the 
borders  of  Loch  Lomond,  twenty  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  shells  of  the  edible  cockle  and  sea-urchin  repose  in  a  layer 
of  brown  clay,  and  the  banks  of  the  Forth  and  of  the  Clyde, 
thirty  feet  higher  than  the  storm  tides,  inclose  remains  of 
common  shells  of  the  present  period,  such  as  the  oyster,  the 
mussel,  and  the  limpet.  Along  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, at  Monte  Video  and  at  Valparaiso,  in  the  isles  of 
the  Pacific  and  at  the  Cape,  in  California  and  Haiti,  we  meet 


UPHEAVAL    AND    DEPRESSION.  35 

with  similar  instances  of  elevation,  which,  though  geologically 
recent,  may  yet  be  of  a  sufficiently  ancient  date  to  have 
preceded  the  appearance  of  man  on  earth.  But  proofs  are 
not  wanting  that  the  upheaving  power  which  has  wrought 
so  many  changes  in  the  past  is  still  actively  employed  in 
remodelling  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

This  important  geological  fact  was  first  ascertained  on  the 
coast  of  Sweden,  where  the  peculiar  configuration  of  the  shore 
makes  it  easy  to  appreciate  slight  changes  in  the  relative 
level  of  land  and  water.  For  the  continent  is  fringed  with 
countless  rocky  islands,  called  the  '  skar,'  within  which  boats 
and  small  vessels  sail  in  smooth  water  even  when  the  sea 
without  is  strongly  agitated.  But  the  navigation  is  very 
intricate,  and  the  pilot  must  possess  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  breadth  and  depth  of  every  narrow  channel,  and  the 
position  of  innumerable  sunken  rocks.  On  such  a  coast  even 
a  slight  change  of  level  could  not  fail  to  become  known  to 
the  mariner,  and  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  learned,  as 
soon  as  the  book  of  nature  began  to  be  more  accurately 
studied. 

Early  in  the  last  century  the  Swedish  naturalist  Celsius 
collected  numerous  observations,  all  pointing  to  the  fact  of  a 
slow  elevation  of  the  land.  Rocks  both  on  the  shore  of  the 
Baltic  and  the  German  Ocean,  known  to  have  been  once  sunken 
reefs,  were  in  his  time  above  water;  small  islands  in  the  Gulf 
of  Bothnia  had  been  joined  to  the  continent,  and  old.  fishing 
grounds  deserted,  as  being  too  shallow  or  entirely  dried  up. 
These  changes  of  level,  which  he  estimated  at  about  three  feet 
in  a  century,  Celsius  attributed  to  a  sinking  of  the  waters  of 
the  Baltic,  owing  possibly  to  the  channel,  by  which  it  dis- 
charges its  surplus  waters  into  the  Atlantic,  having  been 
gradually  widened  and  deepened  by  the  waves  and  currents. 
But  the  lowering  of  level  would  in  that  case  have  been 
uniform  and  universal  over  that  inland  sea,  and  the  waters 
could  not  have  sunk  at  Torneo  while  they  retained  their 
former  level  at  Copenhagen,  Wismar,  Stralsund,  and  other 
towns  which  are  now  as  close  to  the  water's  edge  as  at  the 
time  of  their  foundation.  Playfair  (1802)  and  Leopold  von 
Buch  (1807)  first  attributed  the  change  of  level  to  the  slow 
and  insensible  rising  of  the   land,   and  the  subsequent  in- 

i)  2 


36  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

vestigations  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell  in  1834  have  placed  the  fact 
beyond  a  doubt. 

The  attention  of  geologists  having  once  been  directed  to 
the  partial  upheaval  of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  similar 
facts  were  soon  pointed  out  in  other  countries.  At  Bourg- 
neuf,  near  La  Rochelle,  the  remains  of  a  ship  wrecked  on  an 
oyster  bank  in  the  year  1752,  now  lie  in  a  cultivated  field, 
fifteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and,  within  a  period  of 
twenty-five  years  the  parish  has  gained  at  least  1,500  acres, 
a  very  acceptable  gift  of  the  subterranean  plu tonic  power. 
Port  Bahaud,  where  formerly  the  Dutchmen  used  to  take 
in  cargoes  of  salt,  is  now  9,000  feet  from  the  sea,  and  the 
Island  of  Olonne  is  at  present  surrounded  only  by  swamps 
and  meadows.  These  and  similar  phenomena,  such  as  the 
constant  rise  of  the  chalk  cliffs  at  Marennes,  cannot  possibly 
be  explained  by  recent  driftings,  but  evidently  proceed  from 
a  slow  upheaval  of  the  coasts  and  the  adjacent  sea-bed. 

On  the  opposite  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  we  find  New- 
foundland undergoing  a  similar  process  of  elevation ;  for  cliffs 
over  which,  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  schooners  used  to  sail 
with  perfect  safety,  are  now  quite  close  to  the  surface  ;  and 
in  the  Pacific  the  depth  of  the  channel  leading  to  the  port  of 
Honolulu  is  gradually  decreasing  from  the  same  cause. 

While  many  coasts  thus  show  signs  of  progressive  elevation, 
others  afford  no  less  striking  proofs  of  subsidence,  frequently 
in  close  proximity  to  regions  of  upheaval. 

Thus  on  the  south-west  coast  of  England,  in  Cornwall, 
Devon,  and  Somerset,  submarine  forests,  consisting  of  the 
species  still  flourishing  in  the  neighbourhood,  are  of  such 
frequent  occurrence  that,  according  to  Sir  Henry  de  la  Beche, 
6  it  is  difficult  not  to  find  traces  of  them  at  the  mouths  of  all 
the  numerous  valleys  which  open  upon  the  sea.'  Sometimes 
they  are  covered  with  mud  or  sand,  and  generally  the  roots 
are  found  in  the  situation  where  they  originally  grew,  while 
the  trunks  have  been  horizontally  levelled.  At  Bann  Bridge, 
specimens  of  ancient  Roman  pottery  have  been  discovered 
twelve  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  remains  of  an 
old  Roman  road,  now  submerged  six  feet  deep,  prove  that  the 
subsidence  of  the  land  has  been  going  on  since  the  times  of 
Julius  Cfesar  and  Agricola. 


POSITION    OF   STRATA.  37 

On  the  east  coast  the  phenomenon  is  still  more  striking, 
particularly  in  the  Wash,  that  shallow  bay  between  Lincoln- 
shire and  Norfolk  on  whose  opposite  shores  a  submarine 
forest  extends,  the  trunks  and  stubbles  of  which  become 
apparent  at  ebb-tide.  On  the  coasts  of  Normandy  and 
Brittany  we  likewise  find  traces  of  depression,  pointing  to 
some  future  time  when  perhaps  many  a  bluff  headland,  now 
boldly  fronting  the  ocean,  may  have  disappeared  beneath  the 
waves. 

Huts  of  the  Esquimaux  and  of  the  early  Danish  colonists 
on  the  coast  of  Greenland,  now  submerged  at  high  tide, 
could  not  possibly  have  been  originally  constructed  in  so 
inconvenient  a  situation ;  and  at  Puynipet,  in  the  South  Sea, 
habitations  sunk  beneath  the  water  likewise  prove  a  gradual 
subsidence  of  the  land. 

On  many  coasts  and  islands  modern  scientific  explorers 
have  hewn  marks  in  the  rock,  to  enable  future  generations 
to  judge  of  the  changes  which  are  slowly  but  surely  altering 
the  configuration  of  the  land  and  tracing  new  boundaries  to 
the  ocean.  Had  our  forefathers  left  us  similar  memorials, 
we  should  know  much  more  about  the  oscillatory  movements 
of  the  earth-rind  than  we  know  now;  but,  unfortunately, 
experimental  natural  philosophy  is  but  of  recent  date,  and 
the  marks  chiselled  out  upon  the  Swedish  rocks  in  the  years 
1731  and  1752  are  the  earliest  records  by  which  the  chrono- 
logical progress  of  elevation  or  subsidence  can  be  distinctly 
ascertained. 

This  phenomenon,  which  has  played  so  important  a  part 
in  the  physical  annals  of  our  globe,  having  once  been  accu- 
rately determined,  enables  the  geologist  to  explain  many 
facts  for  which,  before  it  became  known,  it  was  impossible  to 
account. 

We  now  need  not  wonder  at  seeing  sea-shells  imbedded  in 
the  highest  mountains  or  buried  hundreds  of  fathoms  under 
the  ground,  at  alternating  layers  of  marine  and  sweet- water 
deposits  being  frequently  storied  one  above  the  other,  or  at 
originally  horizontal  strata  being  now  found  at  every  possible 
angle  of  inclination. 

The  imperceptible  slowness  with  which  many  of  these  vast 
changes  are  actually  taking  place  warrants  the  inference  that 


38  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

violent  volcanic  revolutions  have  no  doubt  been  far  less 
instrumental  in  moulding  the  earth-rind  to  its  present  form 
than  the  slow  oscillatory  movements  of  elevation  and  de- 
pression which  from  time  immemorial  have  been  constantly 
altering  its  surface.  % 

The  causes  of  these  oscillatory  movements  are  still  very 
imperfectly  known,  though  a  probable  hypothesis  attributes 
them  to  the  expansion  by  increased  temperature  of  extensive 
deep-seated  masses  of  matter.  As  the  elevation  of  some 
tracts  seems  to  coincide  with  the  proportionate  depression  of 
others  at  a  greater  or  less  distance,  these  alternating 
upheavals  and  subsidences  may  possibly  be  the  result  rather 
of  the  lateral  shifting  of  the  flow  of  heat  from  one  mass  of 
subterranean  ma/tter  to  a  neighbouring  mass  than  of  its 
positive  increase  on  the  whole.  '  Such  a  lateral  diversion  of 
the  outward  flow  of  heat,'  says  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope,  '  we  may 
presume  to  be  caused  by  the  deposition  over  certain  areas 
of  thick  newly- formed  beds  of  any  matter  imperfectly  con- 
ducting heat,  like  sedimentary  sands,  gravels,  clays,  shales, 
or  calcareous  mud,  by  which  the  outward  transmission  of 
heat  being  checked,  it  must  accumulate  beneath,  while  a  por- 
tion of  it  will  pass  off  laterally  to  augment  the  temperature 
of  mineral  matter  in  neighbouring  areas  ;  just  as  the  water  of 
a  spring,  if  its  usual  issue  is  blocked  up,  will  accumulate  in 
the  fissures  or  pores  of  the  rock  containing  it,  until  it  finds 
a  vent  on  either  side  and  at  a  higher  level.  Owing  to  this 
increase,  the  resistance  opposed  by  the  overlying  rocks  in 
that  quarter  may  be  sooner  or  later  overcome,  and  their 
elevation  brought  about,  through  the  dilatation  of  the 
mineral  matter  beneath.' 


m 


CHAPTER  V. 

SUBTERRANEAN  WATERS  AND  ARTESIAN  WELLS. 

Subterranean  Distribution  of  the  Waters — Admirable  Provisions  of  Nature — 
Hydrostatic  Laws  regulating  the  Flow  of  Springs — Thermal  Springs— Inter- 
mittent Springs — The  Geysir— Bunsen's  Theory — Artesian  Wells — Le  Puits 
de  Grrenelle — Deep  Borings — Various  Uses  of  Artesian  Wells— Artesian  Wells 
in  Venice  and  in  the  Desert  of  Sahara. 

IN  every  zone  the  evaporating  power  of  the  snn  raises  from 
the  surface  of  the  ocean  vapours,  which  hover  in  the  air 
until,  condensed  by  cold,  they  descend  in  rain  upon  the 
earth.  Here  part  of  them  are  soon  restored  to  the  sea  by 
the  swollen  rivers ;  another  part  is  once  more  volatilised  ;  but 
by  far  the  larger  quantity  finds  its  slow  way  into  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  where  it  serves  for  the  perennial  supply  of  wells 
and  springs. 

The  distribution  of  these  subterranean  waters,  and  the 
simple  laws  which  regulate  their  circulation,  afford  us  one 
of  the  most  interesting  glimpses  into  the  physical  economy 
of  our  globe.  We  know  that  the  greater  part  of  the  earth's 
surface  is  composed  of  stratified  rocks,  or  alternate  beds  of 
impermeable  clay  and  porous  limestone  or  sand,  which  were 
originally  deposited  in  horizontal  layers,  but  have  since  been 
more  or  less  displaced  and  set  on  edge  by  upheaving  forces. 
Wherever  permeable  beds  of  limestone  or  sand  crop  out  on 
the  surface  of  the  land,  the  residuary  portions  of  rain-water 
which  are  not  disposed  of  by  floods  or  by  evaporation,  must 
necessarily  penetrate  into  the  pores  and  fissures,  and  descend 
lower  and  lower,  until  they  finally  reach  an  impermeable 
stratum  which  forbids  their  further  progress  to  a  greater 
depth. 

The  granite,  gneiss,  porphyry,  lava,  and  other  unstratified 
and  crystalline  rocks  of  igneous  origin,  which  cover  about  a 


40  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

third  part  of  the  habitable  globe,  are  likewise  intersected  by 
innumerable  fissures  and  interstices,  which,  in  a  similar 
manner,  collect  and  transmit  rain-water. 

Thus  the  plutonic  or  volcanic  forces  which  have  gradually 
moulded  the  dry  land  into  its  present  form  have  also 
provided  it  with  the  necessary  filters,  drains,  reservoirs,  and 
conduits,  for  the  constant  replenishment  of  springs,  brooks, 
and  rivers.  As  every  porous  layer  is  more  or  less  saturated 
with  moisture,  the  stratified  rocks  are  frequently  traversed 
at  various  depths  by  distinct  sheets  of  water,  or  rather,  in 
most  cases,  by  permanently  drenched  or  waterlogged  sheets 
of  chalk  or  sand.  Thus,  in  a  boring  undertaken  in  search  of 
coal  at  St.  Nicolas  d'Aliermont,  near  Dieppe,  no  less  than 
seven  very  abundant  aquiferous  layers  or  beds  of  stone  were 
met  with  from  about  75  to  1,000  feet  below  the  surface. 
In  an  Artesian  boring  at  Paris,  five  distinct  sheets  of  water, 
each  of  them  capable  of  ascension,  were  ascertained;  and 
similar  perforations  executed  in  the  United  States,  and  other 
countries,  have  in  the  same  manner  traversed  successive 
stages  of  aqueous  deposits. 

Thus  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  vast  quantities  of  water 
are  everywhere  accumulated  in  the  porous  strata  of  which  a 
great  part  of  the  superficial  earth-rind  is  composed,  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  circulate  varying  of  course  with  the 
amount  of  hydrostatic  pressure  to  which  they  are  subjected, 
and  the  more  or  less  porous  and  permeable  nature  of  the 
beds  through  which  they  percolate.  Were  the  ground  we 
stand  on  composed  of  transparent  crystal,  and  the  subter- 
ranean water-courses  tinged  with  some  vivid  colour,  we 
should  then  see  the  upper  earth-crust  traversed  in  every 
direction  by  aqueous  veins,  and  frequently  as  saturated  with 
water  as  the  internal  parts  of  our  body  are  with  blood.  But 
Nature  not  only  perennially  feeds  our  springs  and  brooks 
from  the  inexhaustible  fountains  of  the  deep ;  it  is  also  one 
of  her  infinitely  wise  provisions  that  the  same  water  which, 
if  placed  in  casks  or  open  tanks,  becomes  putrid,  continues 
fresh  so  long  as  it  remains  in  the  cavities  and  interstices  of 
the  terrestrial  strata.  While  filtering  through  the  earth,  it 
is  generally  cleansed  of  all  the  organic  substances  whose 
decay   would   inevitably   taint  its  purity,  and  comes   forth 


AQUEDUCTS.  41 

salubrious  and  refreshing,  a  source  of  health  and  enjoyment 
to  the  whole  animal  creation. 

The  extreme  limits  to  which  the  waters  descend  into  the 
earth  of  course  escape  our  direct  observation,  as  the  lowest 
point  to  which  the  subterranean  regions  have  been  probed 
is  less  than  2,000  or  2,500  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea  ;  but 
as  we  know  from  the  formation  of  many  basins  that  the 
strata  of  which  they  are  composed  attain  in  many  cases  a 
thickness  of  from  20,000  to  30,000  feet,  there  can  hardly  be 
a  doubt  that  they  are  permeated  by  water  to  an  equal  depth. 

As  steam  plays  so  great  a  part  in  volcanic  phenomena,  the 
seat  or  effective  cause  of  which  must  needs  be  sought  for  at 
an  immense  distance  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  we  have 
another  proof  of  the  vast  depth  to  which  the  subterranean 
migrations  of  water  are  able  to  attain. 

After  this  brief  glimpse  into  the  reservoirs  of  the  deep,  we 
have  to  ascertain  the  power  which  raises  their  liquid  contents 
and  forces  them  to  rea-ppear  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
If  we  pour  water  into  a  tube,  bent  in  the  form  of  the  letter  u, 
it  will  rise  to  an  equal  level  in  both  branches.  We  will  now 
suppose  that  the  left  branch  of  the  tube  opens  at  the  top  into 
a  vast  reservoir,  which  is  able  to  keep  it  constantly  filled,  and 
that  the  right  branch  is  cut  off  near  the  bottom,  so  that  only 
a  small  vertical  piece  remains.  The  pressure  of  the  water 
column  in  the  left  branch  will  in  this  case  force  the  liquid 
to  gush  out  of  the  orifice  of  the  shortened  right  branch 
to  the  level  which  it  occupied  while  the  branch  was  still 
entire. 

These  two  hydrostatic  laws,  or  rather  these  two  modifica- 
tions of  the  same  law,  have  been  frequently  put  to  practical 
uses,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  communicating  tubes  which  dis- 
tribute the  waters  of  an  elevated  source  or  reservoir  to  the 
various  districts  of  a  town,  or  in  the  subterranean  conduits 
which  serve  to  create  fountains,  such  as  those  of  Versailles 
or  the  Crystal  Palace. 

When  the  Romans  intended  to  lead  water  from  one  hill  to 
another,  they  constructed,  a/fc  a  vast  expense,  magnificent  aque- 
ducts across  the  intermediate  valley ;  but  the  Turks,  whom  we 
look  upon  as  ignorant  barbarians,  obtain  the  same  result  in 
a  much  more  economical  manner,  and  in  this   respect  far 


42  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

surpass  the  ancients,  who,  had  they  been  better  acquainted 
with  the  first  principles  of  hydrostatics,  would  indeed  have 
left  us  fewer  specimens  of  their  architectural  skill,  but  would 
at  the  same  time  have  saved  themselves  a  great  deal  of  un- 
necessary expense. 

Down  the  slope  of  the  hill  from  which  the  water  is  to  be 
conducted,  the  Turks  lay  a  tube  of  brick  or  metal,  which, 
crossing  the  valley,  moulds  itself  to  its  different  inflections, 
and  ultimately  ascends  the  declivity  of  the  hill  on  the 
opposite  side,  where,  in  virtue  of  the  law  above  cited,  the 
water  rises  as  high  as  on  that  from  which  it  descended.  If 
we  suppose  the  descending  branch  of  the  tube  to  be  pro- 
longed only  as  far  as  the  level  of  the  valley,  with  a  superficial 
orifice,  then  the  liquid  will  of  course  gush  forth  in  a  vertical 
column,  and  form  a  jet  d'eau,  or  fountain,  its  height  being 
determined  by  the  elevation  of  the  sheet  of  water  by  which 
it  is  fed,  and  the  consequent  degree  of  pressure  which  acts 
upon  it.  This  is  the  principle  on  which  all  artificial  foun- 
tains are  constructed.  The  conduit,  for  instance,  which  feeds 
the  grand  fountain  of  the  Tuileries  receives  its  water  from 
a  reservoir  situated  on  the  heights  of  Chaillot. 

Whatever  the  form  of  the  tube  may  be  in  which  the  liquid 
is  contained,  the  simple  hydrostatic  law  which  regulates  its 
level  remains  unmodified.  Let  the  tube  be  circular,  elliptic, 
or  square,  with  a  single  orifice  or  with  many — let  it  be  open 
or  choked  with  pebbles  or  permeable  sand— in  every  case  the 
water  will  invariably  rise  to  the  same  height,  provided  the 
tube  be  perfectly  water-tight ;  or  else  gush  forth  wherever 
it  finds  an  opening  below  the  highest  level. 

This  hydrostatic  principle  so  perfectly  illustrates  the  origin 
of  springs,  that  it  is  almost  superfluous  to  enter  into  any 
further  details  on  the  subject. 

When  we  consider  that  porous  or  absorbent  strata,  alter- 
nating with  impermeable  strata,  frequently  crop  out  on 
the  back  or  on  the  slope  of  hills  or  mountains,  and  then, 
having  reached  their  base,  extend  horizontally  beneath  the 
plain,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are  placed  in  the 
same  hydrostatic  conditions  as  ordinary  water- conducting 
tubes,  and  that  wherever  any  fissure  or  opening  occurs  in 
the  superincumbent  impervious  strata  at   any  point  below 


HOT   AND    COLD    SPRINGS.    .  43 

the  highest  level  of  the  water,  springs  must  necessarily  be 
formed. 

As  the  same  strata  often  extend  over  many  hundreds  of 
miles,  we  cannot  wonder  that  sources  frequently  issue  from 
the  centre  of  immense  plains,  for  the  hydrostatic  pressure 
which  causes  them  to  gush  forth  may  have  its  seat  at  a 
very  considerable  distance. 

As  the  waters  by  which  the  springs  are  fed  have  often  vast 
subterranean  journeys  to  perforin,  their  temperature  is  natu- 
rally independent  of  that  of  the  seasons  or  of  the  changes 
of  the  atmosphere.  Thus,  cold  springs  occur  in  a  tropical 
climate,  when  their  subterranean  channels  descend  from  high 
mountains,  and  boiling  sources  gush  forth  in  the  Arctic 
regions  when  forced  upwards  from  a  considerable  depth. 

While  the  waters  filter  through  the  earth,  they  also 
naturally  dissolve  a  variety  of  substances,  and  hence  all 
springs  are  more  or  less  impregnated  with  extraneous 
particles.  But  many  of  them,  particularly  such  as  are  of  a 
higher  temperature,  contain  either  a  larger  quantity  or  so 
peculiar  a  combination  of  mineral  substances  as  to  acquire 
medicinal  virtues  of  the  highest  order. 

The  geological  phenomena  which  favour  the  production  of 
thermal  springs  are  extremely  interesting,  and  point  to  a 
deep-seated  origin.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  these 
fountains  arise  near  the  scene  of  some  great  subterranean 
disturbance,  either  connected  with  volcanic  action,  or  with 
the  elevation  of  a  chain  of  mountains,  or  lastly  by  cliffs  and 
fissures  caused  by  disruption.  Thus  the  thermal  springs  of 
Matlock  and  Bath  accompany  great  natural  fissures  in  the 
mountain  limestone,  and  the  hot  springs  of  Wiesbaden  and 
Ems,  of  Carlsbad  and  Toeplitz,  all  lie  contiguous  to  remarkable 
dislocations,  or  to  great  lines  of  elevation,  or  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  a  volcanic  focus. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  thermal  springs 
is  the  constant  invariableness  of  their  temperature  and  their 
mineral  impregnation.  £>uring  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years, 
ever  since  accurate  thermometrical  observations  and  chemical 
analyses  have  been  made,  the  most  celebrated  mineral 
sources  of  Germany  have  been  found  to  contain  the  same 
proportion  of  mineral  substances.     This  is  truly  astonishing 


44 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


when  we  consider  that  the  latter  are  merely  dissolved  by 
the  waters  while  passing  through  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
and  that  a  considerable  number  of  them  are  frequently  found 
together  in  the  same  source. 

Another  remarkable  fact  is,  that,  even  in  countries  exposed 
to  violent  and  frequent  earthquakes,  so  many  subterranean 
watercourses  have  remained  unaltered  for  2,000  years  at 
least.  The  sources  of  Greece  still  flow  apparently  as  in  the 
times  of  Hellenic  antiquity.  The  spring  of  Erasinos,  two 
leagues  south  of  Argos,  on  the  declivity  of  the  Chaonian 
mountains,  is  mentioned  by  Herodotus.  At  Delphi  the 
Cassotis  (now  Wells  of  Saint  Nicholas)  still  flow  under  the 
ruins  of  the  temple  of  Apollo,  and  the  hot  baths  of  Aidepsos 
still  exist  in  which  Sylla  bathed  during  the  Mithridatic  war. 

Many  springs  exhibit  the  singular  phenomenon  of  an 
intermittence  which  is  independent  of  the  quantity  of  rain 
falling  in  the  district,  or  of  the  flux  and  reflux  of  the  tide 
in  a  neighbouring  river.  In  many  cases  the  simple  and  well- 
known  hydrostatical  law  exemplified  in  the  common  siphon* 
affords  a  very  ready  and  sufficient  explanation  of  the  phe- 
nomenon. 

In  the  annexed  diagram  the  vessel  a  communicates,  by  a 
tube  c,  with  the   siphon  tube   6,  and  it   is  manifest   that 


when  the  water  in  a  rises  above  the  level  of  the  top  of  b,  it 


*  A  siphon,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  bent  tube,  having  one  leg  longer  than  the 
other.  When  this  tube  is  filled  with  any  liquid,  and  the  shorter  end  is  immersed 
in  a  vessel  containing  liquid  of  the  same  kind,  the  weight  of  the  column  in  the 
longer  leg  will  cause  the  liquid  to  begin  to  run  out,  and  it  will  continue  running 
till  the  vessel  is  emptied.  This  arises  from  the  pressure  of  air  on  the  exposed 
surface  of  fluid,  forcing  it  up  through  the  tube  to  prevent  vacuum,  which  would 
otherwise  be  formed  at  the  highest  point;  and  the  extreme  limit  of  length  at 
which  the  siphon  will  act  is  therefore  determined  by  the  height  of  a  column  of  the 
fluid  equal  to  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  (fifteen  pounds  on  the  square  inch). 
The  limit  in  the  case  of  water  is  something  more  than  thirty  feet. 


INTERMITTENT   SPRINGS. 


45 


will  begin  to  flow  over  and  escape,  as  at  d.  But  as  soon  as 
this  is  the  case  the  tube  b  begins  to  act  as  a  siphon,  and 
draws  off  all  the  water  in  a,  so  that  if  a  constant  supply  is 
poured  into  a,  but  at  a  rate  slower  than  the  rate  of  the  dis- 
charge at  d,  there  will  be  an  intermittent  discharge,  the 
interval  depending  on  the  relation  of  the  rate  of  filling  to 
that  of  emptying. 

The  case  of  a  subterranean  cavity  in  a  limestone  rock, 
slowly  fed  by  drainage  from  the  cracks  and  fissures  of  the 
rock  above,  and  communicating  at  a  distant  point  with  the 
surface  by  a  bent  or  siphon  tube,  is  evidently  strictly  ana- 
logous. 


SECTION  OF  AN  INTERMITTENT  SPRING. 


Iceland,  pre-eminently  the  land  of  volcanic  wonders,  pos- 
sesses in  the  Great  Geysir  the  most  remarkable  intermittent 
fountain  in  the  world.  '  At  the  foot  of  the  Laugarfjall  hill, 
in  a  green  plain,  through  which  several  rivers  meander  like 
threads  of  silver,  and  where  chains  of  dark-coloured  moun- 
tains, overtopped  here  and  there  by  distant  snow-peaks, 
form  a  grand  but  melancholy  picture,  dense  volumes  of  steam 
indicate  from  afar  the  site  of  a  whole  system  of  thermal 
springs  congregated  on  a  small  piece  of  ground  not  exceeding 
twelve  acres  in  extent.  In  any  other  spot  the  smallest  of 
these  boiling  fountains  would  arrest  the  traveller's  attention, 
but  here  his  whole  mind  is  absorbed  by  the  Great  Geysir. 
In  the  course  of  countless  ages,  this  monarch  of  springs  has 
formed  out  of  the  silica  which  it  deposits  a  mound  which 
rises  to  about  thirty  feet  above  the  general  surface  of  the 


46  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

plain,  and  slopes  on  all  sides,  to  the  distance  of  a  hundred 
feet  or  thereabouts,  from  the  border  of  a  large  circular  basin 
situated  in  its  centre,  and  measuring  about  fifty- six  feet  in 
the  greatest  diameter  and  fifty-two  feet  in  the  narrowest. 
In  the  middle  of  this  basin,  forming  as  it  were  a  gigantic 


UKYSIKS   OF    ICKLASD. 


funnel,  there  is  a  pipe  or  tube,  which  at  its  opening  in  the 
basin  is  eighteen  or  sixteen  feet  in  diameter,  but  narrows 
considerably  at  a  little  distance  from  the  mouth,  and  then 
appears  to  be  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diameter. 
It  has  been  probed  to  a  depth  of  seventy  feet,  but  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  hidden  channels  ramify  further  into  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  The  sides  of  the  tube  are  smoothly 
polished,  and  so  hard  that  it  is  not  possible  to  strike  off"  a 
piece  of  it  with  a  hammer.  Generally  the  whole  basin  is 
found  filled  up  to  the  brim  with  sea-green  water  as  pure 
as  crystal,  and  of  a  temperature  of  from  180°  to  190°. 
Astonished  at  the  placid  tranquillity  of  the  pool,  the  traveller 
can  hardly  believe  that  he  is  really  standing  on  the  brink  of 
the  far-famed  Geysir ;  but  suddenly  a  subterranean  thunder 
is  heard,  the  ground  trembles  under  his  feet,  the  water  in 
the  basin  begins  to  simmer,  and  large  bubbles  of  steam  rise 
from  the  tube  and  burst  on  reaching  the  surface,  throwing 
up  small  jets  of  spray  to  the  height  of  several  feet.     Every 


THE    GEYSIKS   OF    ICELAND.  47 

instant  he  expects  to  witness  the  grand  spectacle  which  has 
chiefly  induced  him  to  visit  this  northern  land ;  but  soon  the 
basin  becomes  tranquil  as  before,  and  the  dense  vapours 
produced  by  the  ebullition  are  wafted  away  by  the  breeze. 
These  smaller  eruptions  are  regularly  repeated  every  eighty 
or  ninety  minutes,  but  frequently  the  traveller  is  obliged  to 
wait  a  whole  day  or  even  longer  before  he  sees  the  whole 
power  of  the  Geysir.  A  detonation  louder  than  usual  pre- 
cedes one  of  these  grand  eruptions ;  the  water  in  the  basin 
is  violently  agitated ;  the  tube  boils  vehemently ;  and  sud- 
denly a  magnificent  column  of  water,  clothed  in  vapour  of  a 
dazzling  whiteness,  shoots  up  into  the  air  with  immense 
impetuosity,  to  the  height  of  eighty  or  ninety  feet,  and,  radi- 
ating at  its  a/pex,  showers  water  and  steam  in  every  direction. 
A  second  eruption  and  a  third  rapidly  follow,  and  after  a 
few  minutes  the  fairy  spectacle  has  passed  away  like  a  fan- 
tastic vision.  The  basin  is  now  completely  dried  up,  and  on 
looking  down  into  the  shaft,  the  traveller  is  astonished  to 
see  the  water  about  six  feet  from  the  rim,  and  as  tranquil  as 
in  an  ordinary  well.  After  about  thirty  or  forty  minutes  it 
again  begins  to  rise,  and  after  a  few  hours  reaches  the  brim 
of  the  basin.  Soon  the  subterranean  thunder,  the  shaking 
of  the  ground,  the  simmering  above  the  tube  begin  again — 
a  new  gigantic  explosion  takes  place,  to  be  followed  by  a 
new  period  of  rest — and  thus  this  wonderful  play  of  nature 
goes  on,  day  after  day,  year  after  year,  and  century  after 
century.  The  mound  of  the  Geysir  bears  witness  to  its 
immense  antiquity,  as  its  water  contains  but  a  minute 
portion  of  silica.'  * 

The  explanation  of  these  wonderful  phenomena  has  exer- 
cised the  ingenuity  of  many  natural  philosophers  ;  but  Pro- 
fessor Bunsen's  theory  seems  the  most  plausible.  Having 
first  ascertained,  by  experiment,  that  the  water  at  the  mouth 
of  the  tube  has  a  temperature,  corresponding  to  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere,  of  about  212°  F.,  he  found  it  much  hotter 
at  a  certain  depth  below;  a  thermometer,  suspended  by  a 
string  in  the  pipe,  rising  to  266°  F.,  or  no  less  than  48°  above 
the  boiling  point.  By  letting  down  stones,  suspended  by 
strings,  to  various  depths,  he  next  came  to  the  conclusion 

*  '  The  Polar  World/  p.  54. 


48  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

that  the  tube  itself  is  the  main  seat  or  focus  of  the  mecha- 
nical power  which  forces  the  huge  water  column  upwards. 
For  the  stones  which  were  sunk  to  greater  distances  from 
the  surface  were  not  cast  up  again  when  the  next  eruption 
of  the  Geysir  took  place,  whereas  those  nearer  the  mouth 
of  the  tube  were  ejected  to  a  considerable  height  by  the 
ascending  water-column.  Other  experiments  also  were  made, 
tending  to  demonstrate  the  singular  fact  that  there  is  often 
scarcely  any  motion  below  when  a  violent  rush  of  steam  and 
water  is  taking  place  above.  It  seems  that  when  a  lofty 
column  of  water  possesses  a  temperature  increasing  with  the 
depth,  any  slight  ebullition,  or  disturbance  of  equilibrium, 
in  the  upper  portion  may  first  force  up  water  into  the  basin, 
and  then  cause  it  to  flow  over  the  edge.  A  lower  portion, 
thus  suddenly  relieved  of  part  of  its  pressure,  expands,  and 
is  converted  into  vapour  more  rapidly  than  the  first,  owing 
to  its  greater  heat.  This  allows  the  next  subjacent  stratum, 
which  is  much  hotter,  to  rise  and  flash  into  a  gaseous  form ; 
and  this  process  goes  on  till  the  ebullition  has  descended 
from  the  middle  to  near  the  bottom  of  the  funnel.* 

In  many  geological  basins,  the  deep  subterranean  waters 
are  frequently  inclosed  over  a  surface  of  many  square  miles 
between  impermeable  beds  of  clay  or  hard  rock,  which  no- 
where permit  them  to  escape ;  but  if  a  hole  be  bored  deep 
enough  to  reach  a  permeable  bed,  it  is  evident  that  they 
will  then  gush  forth  more  or  less  violently,  according  to  the 
degree  of  hydrostatic  pressure  which  acts  upon  them.  This 
is  the  simple  theory  of  the  Artesian  Wells,  so  called  from 
the  French  province  of  Artois,  where,  as  far  back  as  the 
beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  springs  of  water  were  arti- 
ficially obtained  by  perforating  the  soil  to  a  certain  depth  in 
places  where  no  indication  of  springs  existed  at  the  surface. 
The  barbarous  inhabitants  of  the  Sahara  seem,  however,  to 
have  long  preceded  the  Artesians  in  the  art  of  sinking  deep 
wells,  for  Olympiodorus,  a  writer  who  flourished  at  Alexan- 
dria about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  mentions  pits 
sunk  in  the  oasis  to  the  depth  of  200  or  300  yards,  and 
pouring  forth  streams  of  water,  used  for  irrigation. 

*  Liebig's  'Annalen,'  translated  in  'Reports  and   Memoirs  of  the  Cavendish 
Society,'  London,  1848.  p.  3ol. 


THE    WELL   OF    GEENELLE. 


49 


By  the  aid  of  geological  science,  and  of  greater  mechanical 
skill,  Artesian  borings'*  are  at  present  frequently  undertaken 
in  civilised  countries,  wherever  the  nature  of  the  ground 
promises  success,  and  the  want  of  water  is  sufficiently  great 
to  warrant  the  attempt.  Sometimes  the  water  is  reached 
at  a  moderate  distance  from  the  surface,  but  not  seldom  it 
has  been  found  necessary  to  bore  to  a  depth  of  200  or 
300  fathoms.  Often  efforts,  even  on  this  large  scale,  have 
proved  vain,  and  the  work  has  been  abandoned  in  despair. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  on  record  of  a  suc- 
cessful sinking  for  water  is  that  of  the  Artesian  well  of 
Grenelle,  one  of  the  Parisian  suburbs. 


POROUS   STRATA.      ARTESIAN   WELL   SINK   IX   THE  LONDON   BASIN. 

The  work  was  begun  with  a,n  auger  of  about  a  foot  in  dia- 
meter, and  the  borings  showed  successively  the  alluvial  soil 
and  subsoil,  and  the  tertiary  sands,  gravels,  clays,  lignite,  &c, 
until  the  chalk  was  reached.  The  work  was  then  carried 
on  regularly  through  the  hard  upper  chalk  down  to  the 
lower  chalk  with  green  grains,  the  dimension  of  the  auger 
being  reduced  at  500  feet  to  a  nine-inch,  and  at  1,300  feet  to 
a  six-inch  aperture.  When  the  calculated  depth  of  1,500  feet 
had  been  reached,  and  as  yet  no  result  appeared,  the  Govern- 
ment began  to  be  disheartened.  Still,  upon  the  urgent  repre- 
sentations of  the  celebrated  Arago,  the  sinking  was  continued, 
until  at  length,  at  the  depth  of  1,800  feet,  the  auger,  after  a 


*  See  Chapter  on  Mines  in  general,  for  a  short  account  of  earth-boring  opera- 
tions. 


50  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

violent  shock  which  made  the  ground  tremble,  suddenly 
turned  without  an  effort.  *  Either  the  auger  is  broken,  or 
we  have  gained  our  end,'  exclaimed  the  director  of  the  work; 
and  a  few  moments  after,  a  large  column  of  water  gushed 
out  of  the  orifice.  It  took  more  than  seven  years  to  accom- 
plish this  grand  work  (1833-41),  which  was  retarded  by 
numberless  difficulties  and  accidents.  About  half-a-million 
gallons  of  perfectly  limpid  water  of  a  temperature  of  82° 
Fahr.  are  daily  supplied  by  the  Puits  de  Grenelle,  and  amply 
repay  its  cost  (362,432  fr.  65  centimes  =14,500?.). 

The  high  temperature  of  Artesian  springs,  when  rising 
from  considerable  depths,  has  been  turned  to  various  prac- 
tical uses.  Thus,  near  Canstadt,  in  Wurtemberg,  several 
mills  are  kept  in  work,  during  the  severest  cold  of  winter, 
by  means  of  the  warm  water  of  Artesian  wells  which  has 
been  turned  into  the  mill-ponds,  and  at  Heilbromi  several 
proprietors  save  the  expense  of  fuel  by  leading  Artesian 
water  in  pipes  through  their  green-houses.  In  some 
localities  the  pure  and  constantly  temperate  Artesian  waters 
are  made  use  of  for  the  cultivation  of  cress.  The  vigorous 
growth  of  this  salutary  herb  in  the  beds  of  rivulets,  where 
natural  springs  gush  forth,  gave  the  idea  of  this  applica- 
tion, which  is  so  profitable  that  the  cress  nurseries  of  Erfurt 
yield  a  produce  of  12,000Z.  a  year.  Fish  ponds  have  also 
been  improved  by  such  warm  springs  being  passed  through 
them. 

Among  the  localities  benefited  by  the  boring  of  Artesian 
wells,  Venice  deserves  to  be  particularly  noticed.  For- 
merly the  City  of  the  Doges  had  no  other  supply  of  water 
but  that  which  was  conveyed  by  boats  from  the  Brenta,  or 
obtained  from  the  rain  collected  in  cisterns.  Hence  the  joy 
of  the  inhabitants  may  be  imagined,  when,  in  1846,  an  Arte- 
sian boring  in  the  Piazza  San  Paolo  began  to  disgorge  its 
water  at  the  rate  of  forty  gallons  per  minute,  and  when  other 
undertakings  of  the  same  kind  proved  equally  successful. 

Wherever  a  well  gushes  forth  in  the  Sahara,  it  brings  life 
into  the  wilderness  ;  the  date-tree  flourishes  as  far  as  its 
fertilising  waters  extend,  and  the  wandering  Arab  changes 
into  a  sedentary  cultivator  of  the  soil.  Thus  the  boring  of 
Artesian  wells  on  the  desert  confines  of  South  Algeria  has 


AKTESIAN    WELLS    IN   ALGERIA.  51 

been  the  means  of  wonderful  improvement,  and  if  the  French 
have  too  often  marked  their  dominion  in  Africa  by  a  barbarous 
oppression  of  the  Arabs,  they,  in  this  respect  at  least,  appear 
in  the  more  amiable  light  of  public  benefactors. 

A  boring  apparatus  was  first  landed  at  Philippeville  in 
April  1856,  and  conveyed  with  immense  difficulty  to  the  Oasis 
Wad  Rir  at  Tamerna.  The  work  was  begun  in  May,  and  on 
the  19th  of  June,  a  spring,  to  which  the  grateful  inhabitants 
gave  the  name  of  the  '  Well  of  Peace,'  gushed  forth.  Soon 
after  another  source  was  tapped  at  Tamelhat,  in  the  Oasis 
Temacen,  and  received  the  name  of  the  'Well  of  God's 
blessing.' 

The  beneficent  instrument  of  abundance  was  now  con- 
veyed to  the  Oasis  Sidi  Rasched,  fifteen  miles  beyond  Tuggurt. 
Here  the  auger  had  scarcely  reached  a  depth  of  120  feet 
when  a  perfect  stream  gushed  forth,  which,  according  to  the 
praiseworthy  Arab  custom,  received  the  name  of  the  i  Well 
of  Thanks.'  The  opening  of  this  wonderful  source  gave 
rise  to  many  touching  scenes.  The  Arabs  came  in  throngs 
to  witness  the  joyful  spectacle :  each  of  them  poured 
some  of  the  water  over  his  head,  and  the  mothers  bathed 
their  children  in  the  gushing  flood.  An  old  scheik,  unable 
to  conceal  his  emotion,  fell  down  upon  his  knees,  and  shedding 
tears  of  joy,  fervently  thanked  God  for  having  allowed  him 
to  witness  such  a  day. 

The  next  triumph  was  the  boring  of  four  wells  in  the 
desert  of  Morran,  where  previously  no  spring  had  existed. 
In  the  full  expectation  of  success,  everything  had  been  pre- 
pared to  turn  this  new  source  of  wealth  to  immediate  use, 
and  part  of  a  nomadic  tribe  instantly  settled  on  the  spot, 
and  planted  1,200  date-trees.  A  dreary  solitude  was  changed, 
as  if  by  magic,  into  a  scene  of  busy  life. 

These  few  examples  suffice  to  show  the  vast  services  which 
Artesian  wells  are  destined  at  some  future  time  to  render  to 
many  of  the  arid  regions  of  Africa.  Both  in  the  Sahara  and 
in  the  basin-shaped  deserts,  which  extend,  under  various 
names,  from  the  Cape  Colony  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake 
Ngami,  there  are,  beyond  all  doubt,  numberless  spots  where 
water,  the  fertilising  element,  may  be  extracted  from  the 
bowels  of  the  earth. 

E    2 


52  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

In  the  droughty  plains  of  Australia  also  a  vast  sphere  of 
utility  is  reserved  to  the  Artesian  wells.  Here,  also,  they  will 
subdue  the  desert,  unite  one  coast  to  another  by  creating 
stations  in  the  wilderness,  and,  with  every  new  source  which 
they  call  to  life,  promote  both  material  progress  and  intel- 
lectual improvement. 


II11IIIIIII1I1II1IIIHIPI 


53 


CHAPTER  VI. 

VOLCANOES. 

Volcanic  Mountains — Extinct  and  Active  Craters — Their  Size — Dangerous  Crater- 
explorations — Dr.  Judd  in  the  Kilauea  Pit — Extinct  Craters — Their  Beauty — 
The  Crater  of  Mount  Vultur  in  Apulia — Volcanoes  still  constantly  forming — 
Jorullo  and  Isalco — Submarine  Volcanoes — Sabrina  and  Graham's  Island — 
Santorin — Number  of  Volcanoes — Their  Distribution— Volcanoes  in  a  constant 
state  of  eruption— Stromboli — Fumaroles — The  Lava  Lakes  in  Kilauea— Vol- 
canic Paroxysms — Column  of  Smoke  and  Ashes — Detonations — Explosion  of 
Cones — Disastrous  Effects  of  Showers  of  Ashes  and  Lapilli — Mud  Streams — 
Eish  disgorged  from  Volcanic  Caverns — Eruption  of  Lava — Parasitic  Cones — 
Phenomena  attending  the  Flow  of  a  Lava  Stream — Baron  Papalardo — Meeting 
of  Lava  and  Water — Scoriae — Lava  and  Ice — Vast  Dimensions  of  several  Lava 
Streams — Scenes  of  Desolation — Volcanoes  considered  as  safety-valves — Probable 
Causes  of  Volcanoes. 

VOLCANOES  are  vents  which  either  have  communicated, 
or  still  communicate,  by  one  or  several  chimney-like 
canals  or  shafts,  with  a  focus  of  subterranean  fire,  emitting, 
or  having  once  emitted,  heated  matter  in  a  solid,  semi-liquid, 
or  gaseous  state.  The  first  eruption  of  a  volcano  neces- 
sarily leaves  a  mound  of  scorise  and  lava,  while  numerous 
eruptions  at  length  raise  mountains,  which  are  frequently  of 
an  amazing  extent  and  height.  These  mountains,  which  are 
generally  called  volcanoes,  though  in  reality  they  are 
but  an  effect  of  volcanic  action  situated  far  beneath 
their  base,  are  called  extinct  when  for  many  centuries  they 
have  exhibited  no  signs  of  combustion — active,  when,  either 
perpetually  or  from  time  to  time,  eruptions  or  exhalations  of 
lava,  scoriae,  or  gases  take  place  from  their  summits,  or  from 
vents  in  their  sides.  Their  shape  is  generally  that  of  a 
more  or  less  truncated  cone  ;  but  while  some,  like  Cotopaxi 
or  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  rise  with  abrupt  declivities  in  the 
shape  of  a  sugar-loaf,  others,  like  Mauna  Loa  in  the  island  of 


54  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Hawaii,  gradually,  and  almost  imperceptibly,  ascend  from  a 
vast  base  embracing  many  miles  in  circuit. 

Their  heights  also  vary  greatly.  "While  some,  like  Madana 
in  Santa  Cruz,  or  Djebel  Teir  on  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea, 
scarcely  raise  their  summits  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  ocean,  others,  like  Chuquibamba  (21,000  feet),  or 
Aconcagua  (22,434  feet),  hold  a  conspicuous  rank  among 
mountains  of  the  first  class. 

The  summit  of  a  volcano  generally  terminates  in  a  central 
cavity  or  crater,  where  the  eruptive  channel  finds  its  vent. 
Craters  are  sometimes  regularly  funnel-shaped,  descending 
with  slanting  sides  to  the  eruptive  mouth,  but  more  com- 
monly they  are  surrounded  with  high  precipitous  rock-walls, 
while  their  bottom  forms  a  plain,  which  is  frequently  com- 
pletely horizontal,  and  sometimes  of  a  considerable  extent. 
Its  surface  is  rough  and  uneven,  from  the  mounds  of  volcanic 
sand,  of  scoria?,  or  of  hardened  lava  with  which  it  is  covered, 
and  generally  exhibits  a  scene  of  dreadful  desolation,  rendered 
still  more  impressive  by  the  steam  and  smoke,  which,  as  long 
as  the  volcano  continues  in  an  active  state,  issue  from  its 
crevices. 

Within  this  plain,  the  eruptive  orifice  or  mouth  of  the 
volcano  is  almost  universally  surrounded  by  an  elevation, 
composed  of  ejected  fragments  of  scoriae  thrown  from  the 
vent.  Such  cones  are  forming  constantly  at  Vesuvius,  one 
being  no  sooner  destroyed  by  any  great  eruption,  before 
another  begins  to  take  shape  and  is  enlarged,  till  often  it 
reaches  a  height  of  several  hundred  feet. 

Thus  the  crater  of  an  active  volcano  is  the  scene  of  per- 
petual change — of  a  continual  construction  and  re- construc- 
tion, and  the  sands  of  the  sea  do  not  afford  a  more  striking 
image  of  inconstancy. 

The  various  craters  are  of  very  different  dimensions.  While 
the  chief  crater  of  Stromboli  has  a  diameter  of  only  fifty  feet, 
that  of  Gunong  Tenger,  in  Java,  measures  four  miles  from  end 
to  end ;  and,  though  the  depth  of  a  crater  rarely  exceeds 
1,000  or  1,500  feet,  the  spectator,  standing  on  the  brink  of 
the  great  crater  of  Popocatepetl,  looks  down  into  a  gulf  of 
8,000  feet. 

From  the  colossal  dimensions  of  the  larger  craters,  it  may 


VOLCANIC    CRATERS.  55 

well  be  imagined  that  their  aspect  exhibits  some  of  the  sub- 
limest  though  most  gloomy  scenery  in  nature — the  picture  of 
old  Chaos  with  all  its  horrors. 

The  volcano  Gunong  Tjerimai,  in  Java,  which  rises  to  the 
height  of  9,000  feet,  is  covered  with  a  dense  vegetation  up  to 
the  crater's  brink.  On  emerging  from  the  thicket,  the 
wanderer  suddenly  stands  on  the  verge  of  an  immense  exca- 
vation encircled  with  naked  rocks.  He  is  obliged  to  hold 
himself  by  the  branches  of  trees,  or  to  stretch  himself  flat 
upon  the  ground,  so  as  to  be  able  to  look  down  into  the 
yawning  gulf.  The  deep  and  inaccessible  bottom  of  the 
crater  loses  itself  in  misty  obscurity,  and  glimmers  indis- 
tinctly through  the  vapours  which  are  there  slowly  and 
incessantly  ascending  from  its  mysterious  depths.  All  is 
desolate  and  silent,  save  when  a  solitary  falcon,  hovering 
over  the  vast  chasm,  awakes  with  her  discordant  screech  the 
echoes  of  the  precipice.  Through  a  telescope  may  be  seen,  in 
various  parts  of  the  huge  crater  walls,  swarms  of  small  swal- 
lows, which  have  there  built  their  nests,  flying  backwards 
and  forwards.  The  eye  can  detect  no  other  signs  of  life,  the 
ear  distinguish  no  other  sound. 

Humboldt  describes  the  view  down  the  crater  of  the  Rueu- 
Pichincha — a  volcano  which  towers  above  the  town  of  Quito  to 
a  height  of  15,000  feet —as  the  grandest  he  ever  beheld  during 
all  his  long  wanderings.  Guided  by  an  Indian,  he  ascended  the 
mountain  in  1802,  and  after  scaling,  with  great  difficulty  and 
no  small  danger,  its  steep  and  rocky  sides,  he  at  length 
looked  down  upon  the  black  and  dismal  abyss,  whence  clouds 
of  sulphurous  vapour  were  rising  as  from  the  gates  of  hell. 

The  descent  into  the  crater  of  au  active  volcano  is  at  all 
times  a  difficult  and  hazardous  enterprise,  both  from  the 
steepness  of  its  encircling  rock  walls,  and  the  suffocating 
vapours  rising  from  its  bottom ;  but  it  is  rare  indeed  that  a 
traveller  has  either  the  temerity  or  the  good  fortune  to  pene- 
trate as  far  as  the  very  mouth  of  the  eruptive  channel,  and  to 
gain  a  glimpse  of  its  mysterious  horrors.  When  M.  Houel 
visited  Mount  Etna  in  1 769,  he  ventured  to  scale  the  cone 
of  stones  and  ashes  which  had  been  thrown  up  in  the  centre 
of  the  crater,  where  thirty  years  before  there  was  only  a 
prodigious  chasm  or  gulf.     On  ascending  this  mound,  which 


56  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

emitted  smoke  from  every  pore,  the  adventurous  traveller 
sunk  about  mid-leg  at  every  step,  and  was  in  constant  terror 
of  being  swallowed  up.  At  last,  when  the  summit  was 
reached,  the  looseness  of  the  soil  obliged  him  to  throw  him- 
self down  flat  upon  the  ground,  that  so  he  might  be  in  less 
danger  of  sinking,  while  at  the  same  time  the  sulphurous 
exhalations  arising  from  the  funnel-shaped  cavity  threatened 
suffocation,  and  so  irritated  his  lungs  as  to  produce  a  very 
troublesome  and  incessant  cough.  In  this  posture  the  traveller 
viewed  the  wide  unfathomable  gulf  in  the  middle  of  the 
crater,  but  could  discover  nothing  except  a  cloud  of  smoke, 
which  issued  from  a  number  of  small  apertures  scattered  all 
around.  From  time  to  time  dreadful  sounds  issued  from  the 
bowels  of  the  volcano,  as  if  the  roar  of  artillery  were  re- 
bellowed throughout  all  the  hollows  of  the  mountain.  They 
were  no  doubt  occasioned  by  the  explosions  of  pent-up  gases 
striking  against  the  sides  of  these  immense  caverns,  and  mul- 
tiplied by  their  echoes  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  After  the 
first  unavoidable  impression  of  terror  had  been  overcome, 
nothing  could  be  more  sublime  than  these  awful  sounds,  which 
seemed  like  a  warning  of  Etna  not  to  pry  too  deeply  into 
his  secrets. 

Dr.  Judd,  an  American  naturalist,  who,  in  1841,  descended 
into  the  crater  of  Kilauea,  on  Mauna  Loa,  in  Hawaii,  well- 
nigh  fell  a  victim  to  his  curiosity.  At  that  time,  the  smallest 
of  the  two  lava  pools  which  boil  at  the  bottom  of  that  extra- 
ordinary pit  appeared  almost  inactive,  giving  out  only  vapours, 
with  an  occasional  jet  of  lava  at  its  centre.  Dr.  Judd,  con- 
sidering the  quiet  favourable  for  dipping  up  some  of  the 
liquid  with  an  iron  ladle,  descended  for  the  purpose  to  a 
narrow  ledge  bordering  the  pool.  While  he  was  preparing  to 
carry  out  his  plans,  his  attention  was  excited  by  a  sudden 
sinking  of  its  surface ;  the  next  instant  it  began  to  rise,  and 
then  followed  an  explosion,  throwing  the  lava  higher  than  his 
head.  He  had  scarcely  escaped  from  his  dangerous  situation, 
the  moment  after,  by  the  aid  of  a  native,  before  the  lava 
boiled  up,  covered  the  place  where  he  stood,  and,  flowing  out 
over  the  northern  side,  extended  in  a  stream  a  mile  wide  to 
a  distance  of  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half! 

In  extinct  volcanoes,  the  picture  of  desolation  originally 


EXTINCT   VOLCANOES. 


57 


shown  by  their  craters  has  not  seldom  been  changed  into 
one  of  charming  loveliness.  Tall  forest  trees  cover  the 
bottom  of  the  Tofua  crater  in  Upolu,  one  of  the  Samoan 
gronp ;  and  in  the  same  island,  a  circular  lake  of  crystal  purity, 
belted  with  a  girdle  of  the  richest  green,  has  formed  in  the 
depth  of  the  Lanuto  crater. 

The  lakes  of  Averno  near  Naples,  and  of  Bolsena,  Bracciano, 
and  Ronciglione,  likewise  fill  the  hollows  of  extinct  craters, 
constituting  scenes  of  surpassing  beauty,  rendered  still  more 
impressive  by  the  remembrance  of  the  stormy  past  which  pre- 
ceded their  present  epoch  of  tranquillity  and  peace.  Mr. 
Mallet  describes,  with  glowing  colours,  the  singular  beauty  of 


EXTIXCT  CRATER  OF  HALEAKALA, 


the  forest  scenery  around  the  two  extinct  craters  of  Mount 
Vultur  in  Apulia,  which  time  has  converted  into  two  deep 
circular  lakes. 

'  I  descend  amongst  aged  trunks  and  overarching  limbs,  and 
pass  over  masses  of  rounded  lava-blocks  and  cemented  lapilli. 
All  is  quietude ;  the  soft  breeze  of  a  quiet  winter's  afternoon 
fans  across  the  embosomed  water,  from  the  early  wheat-fields 
and  the  furrowed  acres  of  the  opposite  steep  slopes,  and  brings 
the  gentle  ripple  lapping  amongst  the  roots  of  the  old  hazels 
at  my  feet. 

'  Off  before  me,  and  to  my  left,  crowning  the  slope,  are  the 
grey  ruins  of  some  ancient  church  or  castle,  and  far  above  me 
to   the   right,   nestled  against  the  lava  crags,  behind  and 


58  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WOJILD. 

above  it,  standing  out  white  and  clear,  I  see  the  strong-  but- 
tressed mass  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Michael.  How  hard  it 
is  to  realise  that  this  noble  and  lovely  scene,  full  of  every 
leafy  beauty,  was  once  the  innermost  bowl  of  a  volcano ;  that 
every  stone  around  me,  now  glorious  in  colour  with  moss 
and  lichen,  sedum  and  geranium,  was  once  a  glowing  mass, 
vomited  from  out  that  fiery  and  undiscovered  abyss,  which 
these  placid  wa/ters  now  bury  in  their  secret  chambers.' 

The  line  of  demarcation  between  active  and  extinct  vol- 
canoes is  not  easily  drawn,  as  eruptions  have  sometimes 
taken  place  after  such  long  intervals  of  repose  as  to  warrant 
the  belief  that  the  vents  from  which  they  issued  had  long 
since  been  completely  obliterated.  Thus,  though  nearly  six 
centuries  have  passed  since  the  last  eruption  of  Epomeo  in 
the  island  of  Ischia,  we  are  not  entitled  to  suppose  it  extinct, 
since  nearly  seventeen  centuries  elapsed  between  this  last 
explosion  and  the  one  which  preceded  it.  Since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century  Vesuvius  also  enjoyed  a  long 
rest  of  nearly  three  hundred  years.  During  this  time  the 
crater  got  covered  with  grass  and  shrubs,  oak  and  chestnut 
trees  grew  around  it,  and  some  warm  pools  of  water  alone 
reminded  the  visitor  of  the  former  condition  of  the  mountain, 
when,  suddenly,  in  December  1631,  it  resumed  its  ancient 
activity,  and  seven  streams  of  lava  at  once  burst  forth  from 
its  subterranean  furnaces. 

While,  in  many  volcanic  districts,  such  as  that  of  the  Eifel 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  of  Auvergne,  in  Central 
France,  the  once  active  subterranean  fires  have  long  since 
been  extinguished,  and  no  eruption  of  lava  has  been  recorded 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  historic  ages,  new  volcanoes, 
situated  at  a  considerable  distance  from  all  previously  active 
vents,  have  arisen  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  almost  within 
the  memory  of  living  man.  From  the  era  of  the  discovery  of 
the  New  World  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  the  country 
between  the  mountains  Toluca  and  Colima,  in  Mexico,  had 
remained  undisturbed,  and  the  space,  now  the  site  of  Jorullo, 
which  is  one  hundred  miles  distant  from  each  of  the  above- 
mentioned  volcanoes,  was  occupied  by  fertile  fields  of  sugar- 
cane and  indigo,  and  watered  by  two  brooks.  In  the  month 
of  June  1759,  hollow  sounds  of  an  alarming  nature  were 


SUBAQUEOUS    VOLCANOES.  59 

heard,  and  earthquakes  succeeded  each  other  for  two  months, 
until,  at  the  end  of  September,  flames  issued  from  the  ground, 
and  fragments  of  burning  rocks  were  thrown  to  prodigious 
heights.  Six  volcanic  cones,  composed  of  scoriae  and  frag- 
mentary lava.,  were  formed  on  the  line  of  a  chasm,  which  ran 
in  the  direction  of  N.E.  to  S.W.  The  leasb  of  the  cones  was 
300  feet  in  height,  and  Jorullo,  the  central  volcano,  was 
elevated  1,600  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain.  The  ground 
where  now,  in  Central  America,  Isalco  towers  in  proud 
eminence,  was  formerly  the  seat  of  an  estancia  or  cattle- 
estate.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1769,  the  inhabitants 
were  frequently  disturbed  by  subterranean  rumblings  and 
shocks,  which  constantly  increased  in  violence,  until  on 
February  23,  1770,  the  earth  opened,  and  pouring  out 
quantities  of  lava,  ashes,  and  cinders  gave  birth  to  a  new 
volcanic  mountain. 

Besides  those  volcanic  vents  which  are  situated  on  the 
dry  land,  there  are  others  which,  hidden  beneath  the  surface 
of  the  sea,  reveal  their  existence  by  subaqueous  eruptions. 
Columns  of  fire  and  smoke  are  seen  to  rise  from  the  dis- 
coloured and  agitated  waters,  and  sometimes  new  islands 
are  gradually  piled  up  by  the  masses  of  scoria?  and  ashes 
ejected  from  the  mouth  of  the  submarine  volcano.  In  this 
manner  the  island  of  Sabrina  rose  from  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  near  St.  Michael's  in  the  Azores,  in  the  year  1811 ;  and 
still  more  recently,  in  1831,  Graham's  Island  was  formed  in  the 
Mediterranean,  between  the  coast  of  Sicily  and  that  project- 
ing part  of  the  African  coast  where  ancient  Carthage  stood. 
Slight  earthquake  shocks  preceded  its  appearance,  then  a 
column  of  water  like  a  water-spout,  60  feet  high  and  800  yards 
in  circumference,  rose  from  the  sea,  and  soon  afterwards  dense 
volumes  of  steam,  which  ascended  to  the  height  of  1,800  feet. 
Then  a  small  island,  a  few  feet  high  with  a  crater  in  its 
centre,  ejecting  volcanic  matter,  and  immense  columns  of 
vapour,  emerged  from  the  agitated  waters,  and  in  a  fortnight 
swelled  to  the  ample  proportions  of  a  height  of  200  feet,  and 
a  circumference  of  three  miles.  But  both  Sabrina  and 
Graham's  Island,  being  built  of  loose  scoria?,  were  soon  cor- 
roded by  the  waves,  and  their  last  traces  have  long  since 
disappeared  under  the  surface  of  the  ocean. 


60  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Near  Pondicherry,  in  India ;  near  Iceland,  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean ;  half  a  degree  to  the  south  of  the  equator  in  the  pro- 
longation of  a  line  drawn  from  St.  Helena  to  Ascension; 
near  Juan  Fernandez,  &c,  similar  phenomena  have  occurred 
within  the  last  hundred  years,  but,  probably,  nowhere  on 
a  grander  scale  than  in  the  Aleutian  Archipelago,  where, 
about  thirty  miles  to  the  north  of  Unalaska,  near  the  isle  of 
Umnack,  a  new  island,  now  several  thousand  feet  high  and 
two  or  three  miles  in  circumference,  was  formed  in  1796. 
The  whole  bottom  of  the  sea  between  this  new  creation  of 
the  volcanic  powers  and  Umnack  has  been  raised  by  the 
eruptive  throes  which  gave  it  birth ;  and  where  Cook  freely 
sailed  in  1778,  numberless  cliffs  and  reefs  now  obstruct  the 
passage  of  the  mariner. 

The  famous  subaqueous  volcano  which,  in  the  year  186 
before  the  Christian  era,  began  its  series  of  historically 
recorded  eruptions,  by  raising  the  islet  of  Hiera  (the 
c  Sacred  ')  in  the  centre  of  the  Bay  of  Santorin,  opened  two 
new  vents  in  1866.  Amid  a  tremendous  roar  of  steam  and 
the  shooting  up  of  prodigious  masses  of  rock  and  ashes,  two 
islets  were  formed,  which  ultimately  rose  to  the  height  of 
60  and  200  feet.  The  eruption  continued  for  many  months, 
to  the  delight  and  wonder  of  the  numerous  geologists  who 
came  from  all  sides  to  witness  the  extraordinary  spectacle. 
Thus,  in  many  parts  of  the  ocean,  we  see  the  submarine  vol- 
canic fires  laying  the  foundations  of  new  islands  and  archi- 
pelagos, which,  after  repeated  eruptions  following  each  other 
in  the  course  of  ages,  will  probably,  like  Iceland,  extend  over 
a  considerable  space  and  become  the  seats  of  civilised  man. 

As  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  globe  has  never  yet 
been  scientifically  explored,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to 
determine  the  exact  number  of  the  extinct  and  active  vol- 
canoes which  are  scattered  over  its  surface.  Werner  gives  a 
list  of  193  volcanoes,  and  Humboldt  mentions  407,  of  which 
225  are  still  in  a  state  of  activity.  The  newest  computation 
of  Dr.  Fuchs,  of  Heidelberg,*  increases  the  number  to  a  total 
of  672,  of  which  270  are  active.  Future  geographical  dis- 
coveries will,  no  doubt,  make  further  additions  to  the  list, 
and  show  that  at  least  through  a  thousand  different  vents 

*  '  Die  vulcanischen  Erscheinungen  der  Erde.'    Liepzig,  1865. 


VOLCANIC    RANGES.  61 

the  subterranean  fires  have,  at  various  periods  of  the  earth's 
history,  piled  up  their  cones  of  scorise  and  lava. 

The  volcanoes  are  very  unequally  distributed  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  globe,  for,  while  in  some  parts  they  are  thickly 
clustered  together  in  groups  or  rows,  we  find  in  other  parts 
vast  areas  of  land  without  the  least  sign  of  volcanic  action. 

An  almost  uninterrupted  range  of  volcanoes  extends  in  a 
sinuous  line  from  the  Gulf  of  Bengal,  through  the  East 
Indian  Archipelago,  the  Moluccas,  the  Philippines,  Formosa, 
Japan,  and  the  Kuriles,  to  Kamtschatka.  This  desolate 
peninsula  is  particularly  remarkable  for  the  energy  of  its 
subterranean  fires,  as  Ermann  mentions  no  less  than  twenty- 
one  active  volcanoes,  ranged  in  two  parallel  lines  through- 
out its  whole  length,  and  separated  from  each  other  by 
a  central  range  of  mountains,  containing  a  large  and  un- 
known number  of  extinct  craters. 

In  Java,  where  more  than  thirty  volcanoes  are  more  or 
less  active,  the  furnaces  of  the  subterranean  world  are  still 
more  concentrated  and  dreadful. 

The  immense  mountain-chains  which  run  parallel  to  the 
western  coasts  of  America  are  likewise  crowned  with  nume- 
rous volcanic  peaks.  Chili  alone  has  fourteen  active  vol- 
canoes, Bolivia  and  Peru  three,  Quito  eleven.  In  Central 
America  we  find  twenty-one  volcanoes,  which  are  chiefly 
grouped  near  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua,  and  to  the  west  of  the 
town  of  Guatemala. 

The  peninsula  of  Aljaska,  and  the  chain  of  the  Aleiites, 
possess  no  less  than  thirty- six  volcanos,  scattered  over  a 
line  about  700  miles  long ;  and  thus  we  find  the  eastern, 
western,  and  northern  boundaries  of  the  Pacific  encircled 
with  a  girdle  of  volcanic  vents,  while  the  subterranean 
fires  have  left  the  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic  com- 
paratively undisturbed. 

With  the  exception  of  Iceland,  which  is  famous  for  the 
widely  devastating  eruptions  of  its  burning  mountains,  the 
volcanic  energies  of  Europe  are  at  present  limited  to  the 
submarine  crater  of  Santorin,  and  to  the  small  area  of  Etna, 
Vesuvius,  and  the  Lipari  Islands.  But,  situated  in  the 
centre  of  the  ancient  seats  of  civilisation,  and  for  so  many 
centuries   the  object  of  the  naturalist's  researches,  of  the 


62  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

traveller's  curiosity,  and  of  the  poet's  song,  they  surpass 
in  renown  all  other  volcanic  regions  in  the  world.  Most 
other  volcanoes  vent  their  fury  over  lands  either  so  wild  or 
so  remote  that  the  history  of  their  eruptions  almost  sounds 
like  a  legend  from  another  planet ;  but  thousands  of  us  have 
visited  Etna  and  Vesuvius,  and  the  explosion  of  their  rage 
menaces  towns  and  countries  which  classical  remembrances 
have  almost  invested  with  the  interest  of  home. 

Some  volcanoes  are  in  a  continual  state  of  eruption.  Isalco, 
born,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1770,  has  remained  ever  since  so 
active  as  to  deserve  the  name  of  the  Faro  (lighthouse)  of  San 
Salvador.  Its  explosions  occur  regularly,  at  intervals  of  from 
ten  to  twenty  minutes,  and  throw  up  a  dense  smoke  and 
clouds  of  ashes  and  stones.  These,  as  they  fall,  add  to  the 
height  and  bulk  of  the  cone,  which  is  now  about  2,500  feet 
high.  For  more  than  two  thousand  years,  the  fires  of 
Stromboli  have  never  been  extinct,  nor  has  it  ever  failed  to 
be  a  beacon  to  the  mariner  while  sailing  after  nightfall 
through  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea.  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope,  who 
visited  Stromboli  in  1820,  and  looked  down  from  the  edge  of 
the  crater  into  the  mouth  of  the  volcano,  some  300  feet 
beneath  him,  found  the  phenomena  precisely  such  as  Spallan- 
zani  described  them  in  1788.  'Two  rude  openings  show 
themselves  among  the  black  chaotic  rocks  of  scoriform  lava 
which  form  the  floor  of  the  crater.  One,  is  to  appearance, 
empty,  but  from  it  there  proceeds,  at  intervals  of  a  few 
minutes,  a  rush  of  vapour,  with  a  roaring  sound,  like  that  of 
a  smelting  furnace  when  the  door  is  opened,  but  infinitely 
louder.  It  lasts  about  a  minute.  Within  the  other  aper- 
ture, which  is  perhaps  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  and  but  a  few 
yards  distant,  may  be  distinctly  perceived  a  body  of  molten 
matter,  having  a  vivid  glow  even  by  day,  approaching  to 
that  of  white  heat,  which  rises  and  falls  at  intervals  of  from 
ten  to  fifteen  minutes.  Each  time  that  it  reaches  in  its 
rise  the  lip  of  the  orifice,  it  opens  at  the  centre,  like  a  great 
bubble  bursting,  and  discharges  upwards  an  explosive  volume 
of  dense  vapour,  with  a  shower  of  fragments  of  incandescent 
lava  and  ragged  scoriae,  which  rise  to  a  height  of  several 
hundred  feet  above  the  lip  of  the  crater.' 

The  volcanoes  of  Masaya,  near  the  lake  of  the  same  name 


THE    VOLCANO    OP    MAUNA    LOA.  G3 

in  Nicaragua ;  of  Sioa,  in  the  Moluccas ;  and  of  Tofua,  in  the 
Friendly  Islands,  are  also,  like  Stromboli,  in  a  state  of  per- 
manent eruption.  But  far  more  commonly  the  volcanoes  burst 
forth  only  from  time  to  time  in  violent  paroxysms,  separated 
from  each  other  by  longer  phases  of  moderate  activity, 
during  which  their  phenomena  are  confined  to  the  exhalation 
of  vapours  and  gases,  sometimes  also  to  the  ejection  of  scoriae 
or  ashes ;  to  the  oscillations  of  lava  rising  or  subsiding  in  the 
shaft  of  the  crater,  to  the  gentle  outflow  of  small  streams  of 
lava  from  its  eruptive  cone,  and  to  slight  commotions  of  its 
border.  A  continual  or  periodical  exhalation  of  steam  and 
gases  from  the  shaft  of  the  crater  or  from  chasms  and  fis- 
sures in  its  bottom,  is  the  commonest  phenomenon  shown  by 
an  active  volcano  while  in  a  state  of  tranquillity.  Aqueous 
vapours  compose  the  chief  part  of  these  exhalations,  and 
along  with  other  volatile  substances,  such  as  sulphuretted 
hydrogen,  sulphurous  acid,  muriatic  acid,  and  carbonic  acid, 
form  the  steam-jets  or  fumaroles,  which  escape  with  a 
hissing  or  roaring  noise  from  all  the  crevices  and  chasms  of 
the  crater,  and,  uniting  as  they  ascend  in  a  single  vapour- 
cloud,  ultimately  compose  the  lofty  column  of  steam  which 
forms  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  picturesque  beauty  of 
Etna  or  Vesuvius.  High  on  the  summit  of  Mauna  Loa, 
where  all  vegetation  has  long  since  ceased,  the  warm  steam 
of  the  fumaroles  gives  rise  to  a  splendid  growth  of  ferns  in 
crevices  sheltered  from  the  wind ;  and  on  the  island  of 
Pantellaria,  the  shepherds,  by  laying  brushwood  before  the 
fumaroles,  condense  the  steam,  and  thus  procure  a  supply  of 
water  for  their  goats. 

The  gentle  fluctuations  of  lava  in  a  crater  while  in  a  state 
of  moderate  activity  are  nowhere  exhibited  on  a  grander 
scale  than  in  the  pit  of  Kilauea  on  Mauna  Loa.  The 
mountain  rises  so  gradually  as  almost  to  resemble  a  plain, 
and  the  crater  appears  like  a  vast  gulf  excavated  in  its 
flanks.  The  traveller  perceives  his  approach  to  it  by  a  few 
small  clouds  of  steam,  rising  from  fissures  not  far  from  his 
path.  While  gazing  for  a  second  indication,  he  stands 
unexpectedly  upon  the  brink  of  the  pit.  A  vast  amphitheatre 
seven  miles  and  a  half  in  circuit  has  opened  to  view. 
Beneath  a  gray  rocky  precipice  of  650  feet,  a  narrow  plain 


64  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

of  hardened  lava  extends,  like  a  vast  gallery,  around  the 
whole  interior.  Within  this  gallery,  below  another  similar 
precipice  of  340  feet,  lies  the  bottom,  a  wide  plain  of  bare 
rock  more  than  two  miles  in  length.  Here  all  is  black 
monotonous  desolation,  excepting  certain  spots  of  a  blood- 
red  colour,  which  appear  to  be  in  constant  yet  gentle 
agitation. 

When  Professor  Dana  visited  Kilauea  (December  1840), 
he  was  surprised  at  the  stillness  of  the  scene.  The  incessant 
motion  in  the  blood-red  pools  was  like  that  of  a  cauldron 
in  constant  ebullition.  The  lava  in  each  boiled  with  such 
activity  as  to  cause  a  rapid  play  of  jets  over  its  surface. 
One  pool,  the  largest  of  the  three  then  in  action,  was 
afterwards  ascertained  by  survey  to  measure  1,500  feet  in 
one  diameter  and  1,000  in  another;  and  this  whole  area 
was  boiling,  as  seemed  from  above,  with  nearly  the  mobility 
of  water.  Still  all  went  on  quietly.  Not  a  whisper  was  heard 
from  the  fires  below.  White  vapours  rose  in  fleecy  wreaths 
from  the  pools  and  numerous  fissures,  and  above  the  large 
lake  they  collected  into  a  broad  canopy  of  clouds,  not  un- 
like the  snowy  heaps  or  cumuli  that  lie  near  the  horizon  on  a 
clear  day,  though  their  fanciful  shapes  changed  more  rapidly. 

On  descending  afterwards  to  the  black  ledge  or  gallery 
at  the  verge  of  the  lower  pit,  a  half- smothered  gurgling 
sound  was  all  that  could  be  heard  from  the  pools  of  lava. 
Occasionally,  there  was  a  report  like  that  of  musketry,  which 
died  away,  and  left  the  same  murmuring  sound,  the  stifled 
mutterings  of  a  boiling  fluid. 

Such  was  the  scene  by  day — awful,  melancholy,  dismal — 
but  at  night  it  assumed  a  character  of  indescribable  subli- 
mity. The  large  cauldron,  in  place  of  its  bloody  glare,  now 
glowed  with  intense  brilliancy,  and  the  surface  sparkled 
with  shifting  points  of  dazzling  light,  occasioned  by  the  jets 
in  constant  play.  The  broad  canopy  of  clouds  above  the 
pit,  which  seemed  to  rest  on  a  column  of  wreaths  and  curling 
heaps  of  lighted  vapour,  and  the  amphitheatre  of  rocks 
around  the  lower  depths,  were  brightly  illuminated  from  the 
boiling  lavas,  while  a  lurid  red  tinged  the  distant  parts  of 
the  inclosing  walls  and  threw  their  cavernous  recesses  into 
deeper  shades  of  darkness.     Over  this  scene  of  restless  fires 


PHENOMENA    OF    ERUPTION.  65 

and  fiery  vapours,  the  heavens  by  contrast  seemed  unnatu- 
rally black,  with  only  here  and  there  a  star,  like  a  dim  point 
of  light. 

A  paroxysmal  eruption  is  generally  announced  by  the 
intensification  of  the  phenomena  above  described.  Slight 
earthquakes  are  felt  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  volcano, 
and  follow  each  other  in  more  rapid  succession  and  with 
greater  violence  as  the  catastrophe  draws  near.  A  deep 
noise  like  the  rolling  of  thunder,  or  like  the  roar  of  distant 
artillery,  is  heard  under  the  ground ;  the  white  steam  from 
the  crater  ascends  in  denser  clouds,  which  soon  acquire  a 
darker  tinge ;  and  now  the  bottom  of  the  crater  suddenly 
bursts  with  a  terrific  crash,  and  with  the  rapidity  of  light- 
ning, an  immense  column  of  black  smoke  shoots  up  into  the 
air,  and,  expanding  at  its  upper  end  into  a  broad  horizontal 
canopy,  assumes  a  shape  which  has  been  compared  with  that 
of  the  Italian  pine,  the  graceful  tree  of  the  South.  As  the 
column  of  smoke  spreads  over  the  sky,  it  obscures  the  light 
of  the  sun  and  changes  day  into  night.  Along  with  the 
smoke,  showers  of  glowing  lava  are  cast  high  up  into  the  air, 
and,  rising  like  rockets,  either  fall  back  into  the  crater  or 
rattle  down  the  declivity  of  the  cone. 

At  night  the  scene  assumes  a  character  of  matchless 
grandeur,  when  the  column  of  smoke — or,  more  properly 
speaking,  of  scorise,  vapour,  and  impalpable  dust — is  illu- 
minated by  the  vivid  light  of  the  lava  glowing  in  the  crater 
beneath.  It  then  appears  as  an  immense  pillar  of  fire,  rising 
with  steady  majesty  in  the  midst  of  the  uproar  of  all  the 
elements,  and  ever  and  anon  traversed  by  flashes  of  still 
greater  brilliancy  from  the  masses  of  liquid  lava  hurled  forth 
by  the  volcano. 

The  detonations  which  accompany  an  eruption  are  some- 
times heard  as  single  crashes,  at  others  as  a  rolling  thunder 
or  as  a  continuous  roaring.  They  are  frequently  audible  at 
an  astonishing  distance,  over  areas  of  many  thousand  square 
miles,  and  with  such  violence  that  they  may  be  supposed  to 
proceed  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood.  Thus,  during 
the  eruption  of  Cosiguina  in  Nicaragua,  which  took  place  in 
the  year  1834,  the  detonations  were  heard  as  loud  as  a 
thunderstorm  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kingston  in  Jamaica, 

F 


66  THE   SUBTEKRANEAN   WORLD. 

and  even  at  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota,  which  is  a  thousand  miles 
distant  from  the  volcano.  With  the  increase  of  steam  generated 
during  an  eruption,  the  quantity  of  ejected  scoriae  likewise 
increases  in  an  astonishing  manner,  so  that  the  volcano's 
mouth  resembles  a  constantly  discharging  mine  of  the  most 
gigantic  dimensions. 

The  stones  and  ashes  projected  during  a  volcanic  eruption 
vary  considerably  in  size,  from  blocks  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
in  diameter  to  the  finest  dust.  Both  their  immense  quantity, 
and  the  force  with  which  they  are  hurled  into  the  air,  show 
the  utter  insignificance  of  the  strength  displayed  by  the 
most  formidable  engines  invented  by  man  when  compared 
with  elementary  power.  Huge  blocks  are  shot  forth,  as  from 
the  cannon's  mouth,  to  a  perpendicular  elevation  of  6,000  feet, 
and  La  Condamine  relates  that  in  1533  Cotopaxi  hurled  stones 
of  eight  feet  in  diameter  in  an  oblique  direction  to  the 
distance  of  seven  miles.  The  lighter  scoriae,  carried  far 
away  by  the  winds,  not  seldom  bury  whole  provinces  under 
a  deluge  of  sand  and  ashes;  and  their  disastrous  effects, 
spreading  over  an  immense  area,  are  frequently  greater  than 
those  of  the  lava-streams,  whose  destructive  power  is  neces- 
sarily confined  to  a  narrower  space.  To  cite  but  a  few  exam- 
ples, the  rain  of  sand  and  ashes  which  in  1812  menaced  the 
Island  of  St.  Vincent  with  the  fate  of  Pompeii  soon  buried 
every  trace  of  vegetation,  and  the  affrighted  planters  and 
negroes  fled  to  the  town.  But  here  also  the  black  sand, 
along  with  many  larger  stones,  fell  rattling  like  hail  upon 
the  roofs  of  the  houses,  while  at  the  same  time  a  tremendous 
subterranean  thunder  increased  the  horrors  of  the  scene. 
Even  Barbadoes,  though  eighty  miles  from  St.  Vincent's,  was 
covered  with  ashes.  A  black  cloud,  approaching  from  the 
sea,  brought  with  it  such  pitchy  darkness  that  in  the 
rooms  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  the  windows,  and  a 
white  pocket-handkerchief  could  not  be  seen  at  a  distance  of 
five  inches. 

The  fall  of  ashes  caused  in  April  1815  by  the  eruption  of 
the  Temboro,  in  Sumbawa,  not  only  devastated  the  greater 
part  of  the  island,  but  extended  in  a  westerly  direction  to 
Java,  and  to  the  north,  as  far  as  Celebes,  with  such  an 
intensity  that  it  became  perfectly  dark  at  noon.     The  roofs 


KESULTS    OF    SINGLE    ERUPTIONS.  67 

of  houses  at  the  distance  of  forty  miles  were  broken  in  by 
the  weight  of  the  ashes  that  fell  upon  them.  To  the  west 
of  Sumatra  the  surface  of  the  sea  was  covered  two  feet  deep 
with  a  layer  of  floating  pumice  or  scorise,  through  which 
ships  with  difficulty  forced  their  way. 

By  the  terrific  eruption  of  Cosiguina  in  the  Gulf  of 
Eonseca,  in  Central  America,  in  1835,  all  the  ground  within  a 
radius  of  twenty-five  miles  was  loaded  with  scoriae  and  ashes 
to  the  depth  of  ten  feet  and  upwards,  while  the  lightest  and 
finest  ash  was  carried  by  the  winds  to  places  more  than  700 
miles  distant.  Eight  leagues  to  the  southward  of  the  crater 
the  ashes  covered  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  three  yards 
and  a  half,  destroying  the  woods  and  dwellings.  Thousands 
of  cattle  perished,  their  bodies  being  in  many  instances  one 
mass  of  scorched  flesh.  Deer  and  other  wild  animals  sought 
the  towns  for  protection;  birds  and  beasts  were  found 
suffocated  in  the  ashes,  and  the  neighbouring  streams  were 
strewed  with  dead  fish. 

When  we  consider  the  amazing  quantity  of  stones  and 
ashes  ejected  in  these  and  similar  instances  by  volcanic 
power,  we  cannot  wonder  that  considerable  mountains  have 
frequently  been  piled  up  by  one  single  eruption.  Thus  in 
the  Bay  of  Baise  near  Naples,  Monte  Nuovo,  a  hill  440  feet 
high,  and  with  a  base  of  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
circumference,  formed,  in  less  than  twelve  hours,  on 
September  29,  1538 ;  and  a  few  days  gave  birth  to  Monte 
Minardo,  near  Bronte,  on  the  slopes  of  Etna,  which  rises  to 
the  still  more  considerable  height  of  700  feet.  It  would  be 
curious  to  calculate  how  many  thousands  of  workmen,  and 
what  length  of  time,  man  would  need  to  raise  mounds  like 
these,  produced  by  an  almost  instantaneous  effort  of  nature. 

In  other  cases  the  expansive  power  of  the  elastic  vapours, 
which  cast  up  these  prodigious  masses  from  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  is  such  as  to  blow  to  pieces  the  volcanic  cone 
through  which  it  seeks  its  vent. 

In  Quito  there  is  an  ancient  tradition  that  Capac  Urcu, 
which  means  '  the  chief,'  was  once  the  highest  volcano  near 
the  equator,  being  higher  than  Chimborazo,  but  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  prodigious  eruption  took 
place  which  broke  it  down.     The  fragments  of  trachyte,  says 

F    2 


G8  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Mr.  Boussingault,  wliich  once  formed  the  conical  summit  of 
this  celebrated  mountain,  are  at  this  day  spread  over  the 
plain.  On  August  11,  1772,  the  Pepandajan,  in  Java, 
formerly  one  of  the  highest  mountains  of  the  island,  broke 
out  in  eruption ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  around  pre- 
pared for  flight,  but,  before  they  could  escape,  the  greater 
part  of  its  summit  was  shivered  to  pieces  and  covered  the 
neighbourhood  with  its  ruins,  so  that  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  Gurat  valley  forty  villages  were  completely  buried. 
During  the  dreadful  eruption  of  1815,  the  Temboro,  in 
Sumbawa,  is  said  to  have  lost  at  least  one-third  of  its  height 
from  the  explosion  of  its  summit,  and  similar  instances  are 
mentioned  as  having  occurred  among  the  volcanoes  of 
Japan. 

In  the  year  1638  a  colossal  cone  called  the  Peak,  in  the 
Isle  of  Timor,  one  of  the  Moluccas,  was  entirely  destroyed  by 
a  paroxysmal  explosion.  The  whole  mountain,  which  was 
before  this  continually  active,  and  so  high  that  its  light  was 
visible,  it  is  said,  three  hundred  miles  off,  was  blown  up  and 
replaced  by  a  concavity  now  containing  a  lake. 

Again,  according  to  M.  Moreau  de  Jonnes,  in  1718,  on 
March  6-7,  at  St.  Vincent's,  one  of  the  Leeward  Isles,  the 
shock  of  a  terrific  earthquake  was  felt,  and  clouds  of  ashes 
were  driven  into  the  air,  with  violent  detonations,  from  a 
mountain  situated  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  island.  When 
the  eruption  had  ceased,  it  was  found  that  the  whole  mountain 
had  disappeared  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  dream. 

The  disastrous  effects  of  the  showers  of  sand,  pumice,  and 
lapilli  ejected  by  a  volcanic  eruption  are  increased  by  the 
transporting  power  of  water.  The  aqueous  vapours  which 
are  evolved  so  copiously  from  volcanic  craters  during  erup- 
tions, and  often  for  a  long  time  subsequently  to  the  discharge 
of  scoriae  and  lava,  are  condensed  as  they  ascend  in  the  cold 
atmosphere  surrounding  the  high  volcanic  peak ;  and  the 
clouds  thus  formed,  being  in  a  state  of  high  electrical  tension, 
give  rise  to  terrific  thunderstorms.  The  lightning  flashes  in 
all  directions  from  the  black  canopy  overhanging  the  moun- 
tain, the  perpetually  rolling  thunder  adds  its  loud  voice  to 
the  dreadful  roar  of  the  labouring  volcano,  while  torrents  of 
rain,  sweeping  along  the  light  dust  and  scoria)  which  they 


WARNINGS   OF   COMING    ERUPTION.  69 

carry  down  with  them  from  the  air,  or  meet  with  on  their 
way,  produce  currents  of  mud,  often  more  dreaded  than 
streams  of  lava,  from  the  far  greater  velocity  with  which 
they  move. 

It  not  seldom  happens  that  the  eruptions  of  volcanoes 
rising  above  the  limits  of  perpetual  snow  are  preceded  or 
accompanied  by  the  rapid  dissolution  of  the  ice  which  clothes 
their  summits  or  their  sides,  owing  to  the  high  temperature 
imparted  to  the  whole  mass  of  the  mountain  by  the  vast 
conflict  raging  within.  Thus  in  January  1803  one  single 
night  sufficed  to  dissolve  or  sweep  away  the  enormous  bed  of 
snow  which  in  times  of  rest  covers  the  steep  cone  of 
Cotopaxi  (18,858  feet  high),  so  that  on  the  following  morning 
the  dark  mountain,  divested  of  its  brilliant  robe,  gave 
warning  to  the  affrighted  neighbourhood  of  the  terrific  scenes 
that  were  about  to  follow.  The  volcanoes  of  Iceland,  which 
mostly  rise  in  the  midst  of  vast  fields  of  perpetual  ice,  fre- 
quently exhibit  this  phenomenon.  On  October  17, 1758,  the 
eruptive  labouring  of  Kotlingia  gave  birth  to  three  enormous 
torrents,  which  carried  along  with  them  such  masses  of 
glacier  fragments,  sand,  and  stones  as  to  cover  a  space  fifty 
miles  long  and  twenty-five  miles  broad.  Blocks  of  ice  as 
large  as  houses,  and  partly  bearing  immense  pieces  of  stone 
on  their  backs,  were  hurried  along  by  the  floods ;  and  soon 
after  the  eruption  took  place  with  a  terrific  noise. 

A  very  singular  phenomenon  sometimes  occurs  in  the 
gigantic  volcanoes  of  the  Andes.  By  the  infiltration  of  water 
into  the  crevices  of  the  trachytic  rock  of  which  they  are 
composed,  the  caverns  situated  at  their  declivities  or  at  their 
foot  are  gradually  changed  into  subterranean  lakes  or  ponds, 
which  frequently  communicate  by  narrow  apertures  with  the 
Alpine  brooks  of  the  highlands  of  Quito.  The  fish  from 
these  brooks  live  and  multiply  in  these  subterranean  reser- 
voirs thus  formed,  and  when  the  earthquakes  which  precede 
every  eruption  of  the  Andes  chain  shake  the  whole  mass 
of  the  volcano,  the  caverns  suddenly  open  and  discharge 
enormous  quantities  of  water,  mud,  and  small  fish. 

When  in  the  night  between  the  19th  and  20th  of  June 
1698,  the  summit  of  Carguairazo  (18,000  feet  high)  was  blown 
up,  so  that  of  the  whole  crater-rim  but  two  enormous  peaks 


70  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

remained,  the  inundated  fields  were  covered,  over  a  surface  of 
nearly  fifty  square  miles,  with  fluid  tuff  and  clay-mud  en- 
veloping thousands  of  dead  fish.  Seven  years  before,  the 
malignant  fever  which  prevailed  in  the  mountain-town  of 
Ibarra  to  the  north  of  Quito  was  attributed  to  the  effluvia 
arising  from  the  putrid  fish  ejected  by  the  volcano  of  Im- 
baburu. 

Amidst  all  these  terrible  phenomena — the  dreadful  noise, 
the  quaking  of  the  earth,  the  ejection  of  stones  and  ashes — 
which,  often  continuing  for  weeks  or  months,  shake  the 
deepest  foundations  of  the  volcano,  fiery  streams  of  liquid 
lava  gush  forth  sooner  or  later  as  from  a  vase  that  is  boiling 
over.  Their  appearance  generally  indicates  the  crisis  of  the 
subterranean  revolution,  for  the  rage  of  the  elements,  which 
until  then  had  been  constantly  increasing,  diminishes  as 
soon  as  the  torrent  has  found  an  outlet.  The  lava  rarely 
issues  from  the  summit  crater  of  the  mountain ;  much  more 
frequently  it  flows  from  a  lateral  rent  in  the  volcano's  side, 
which,  weakened  and  dislocated  in  its  texture  by  repeated 
shocks,  at  length  gives  way  to  the  immense  pressure  of  the 
lava  column  boiling  within.  From  the  vast  size  of  these 
eruptive  rents,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  gigantic  power 
of  the  forces  which  give  them  birth. 

Thus  during  the  great  eruption  of  Etna  in  1669,  the 
south-east  flank  of  the  mountain  was  split  open  by  an 
enormous  rent  twelve  miles  long,  at  the  bottom  of  which 
incandescent  lava  was  seen.  The  extreme  length  of  the 
fissure  which  gave  lateral  issue  to  the  lava  of  Kilauea  in 
1840  was  twenty-five  miles,  as  could  distinctly  be  traced 
through  the  disturbance  of  the  surface  rocks  above;  and  in 
the  terrific  eruption  of  Skaptar  Jokul,  which  devastated  the 
west  coast  of  Iceland  in  1783,  lava  gushed  forth  from 
several  vents  along  a  fissure  of  not  less  than  100  miles  in 
length.  In  some  cases  the  whole  mass  of  the  volcano  has 
been  cleft  in  two.  Yesuvius  was  thus  rent  in  October  1822 
by  an  enormous  fissure  broken  across  its  cone  in  a  direction 
N.W.— S.E. 

Here  and  there  along  the  line  of  such  a  rent,  cones  of 
eruption  are  thrown  up  in  succession  at  points  where  the 
gaseous  matter  obtains  the  freest  access  to  the  surface,  and 


LAVA   STREAMS.  71 

has  power  to  force  up  lava  and  scorise.  Few  indeed,  if  any, 
of  the  greater  volcanic  mountains  are  unattended  by  such 
minor  elevations,  clustering  about  its  sides  like  the  satellites 
of  a  planet.  Professor  Dana  found  Mauna  Loa  covered  with 
numerous  parasitic  cones,  and  Mr.  Darwin  counted  several 
thousands  on  one  of  the  Gallapagos  Islands.  On  the  flanks 
of  Etna,  according  to  Professor  Sartorius  von  Waltershausen, 
more  than  700  of  them  are  to  be  seen,  almost  all  possessing 
craters,  and  each  marking  the  source  of  a  current  of  lava. 
Though  they  appear  but  trifling  irregularities  when  viewed 
from  a  distance  as  subordinate  parts  of  so  imposing  and 
colossal  a  mountain,  many  of  them  would  nevertheless  be 
deemed  hills  of  considerable  height  in  almost  any  other 
region.  The  double  hill  near  Nicolosi,  called  Monte  Rossi, 
formed  in  1669,  is  450  feet  high  and  two  miles  in  cir- 
cumference at  its  base;  and  Monte  Minardo,  near  Bronte,  on 
the  east  of  the  great  volcano,  is  upwards  of  700  feet  in 
height.* 

6  On  looking  down  from  the  lower  borders  of  the  desert 
region  of  Etna,'  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  'these  minor  volcanoes, 
which  are  most  abundant  in  the  woody  region,  present  us 
with  one  of  the  most  delightful  and  characteristic  scenes  in 
Europe.  They  afford  every  variety  of  height  and  size,  and 
are  arranged  in  beautiful  and  picturesque  groups.  However 
uniform  they  may  appear  when  seen  from  the  sea,  or  the 
plains  below,  nothing  can  be  more  diversified  than  their 
shape  when  we  look  from  above  into  their  craters,  one  side 
of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  generally  broken  down.  There 
are  indeed,  few  objects  in  nature  more  picturesque  than  a 
wooded  volcanic  crater.  The  cones  situated  in  the  higher 
parts  of  the  forest  zone  are  chiefly  clothed  with  lofty  pines, 
while  those  at  a  lower  elevation  are  adorned  with  chestnuts, 
oaks,  and  beech-trees.' 

As  the  point  where  a  lava-current  finds  a  vent  is  often 
situated  at  a  considerable  distance  below  the  surface  of  the 
liquid  column  in  the  internal  chimney  of  the  volcano,  the 
pressure  from  above  not  seldom  causes  the  lava  to  spout 
forth  in  a  jet,  until  its  level  in  the  crater  shaft  has  been 
reduced  to  that  of  the  newly-formed  orifice.     Thus,  when 

*  See  p.  67. 


72  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Vesuvius  was  rent  by  the  dreadful  paroxysmal  eruption  of 
1794,  the  lava  was  seen  to  shoot  up  in  magnificent  fountains 
as  it  issued  from  the  openings  along  the  fissure. 

Further  on,  the  lava  flows  down  the  mountain's  side 
according  to  the  same  laws  which  regulate  the  movements 
of  any  other  stream,  whether  of  water,  mad,  or  ice  :  more 
rapidly  down  an  abrupt  declivity,  slower  where  the  slope  is 
more  gradual;  now  accumulating  in  narrow  ravines,  then 
spreading  out  in  plains  ;  sometimes  rushing  in  fiery  cas- 
cades down  precipices,  and,  where  insurmountable  obstacles 
oppose  its  progress,  not  seldom  breaking  off  into  several 
branches,  each  of  which  pursues   its  independent  course. 

At  the  point  where  it  issues,  the  lava  flows  in  perfect  so- 
lution, but,  as  its  surface  rapidly  cools  when  exposed  to  the 
air,  it  soon  gets  covered  with  scoriae,  which  are  dashed  over 
each  other  in  wild  confusion,  by  successive  floods  of  liquid 
stone,  so  as  to  resemble  a  stormy  sea  covered  with  ice-blocks. 
But  the  liquefied  stone  not  only  hardens  on  its  external  sur- 
face ;  it  also  becomes  solid  below,  where  it  touches  the 
colder  soil,  so  that  the  fluid  lava  literally  moves  along  in  a 
crust  of  scoria?,  which  lengthens  in  the  same  proportion  as 
the  stream  advances. 

The  movements  of  the  lava-current  are  of  course  consider- 
ably retarded  by  the  formation  of  scoriae,  so  that,  unless  where 
a  greater  inclination  of  the  soil  gives  it  a  new  impulse,  it  flows 
slower  and  slower.  Thus  the  lava-stream  which  was  ejected 
by  Etna  during  the  great  eruption  of  1669,  performed  the 
first  thirteen  Italian  miles  of  its  course  in  twenty  days,  or  at 
the  average  rate  of  162  feet  per  hour,  but  required  no  less 
than  twenty-three  days  for  the  last  two  miles.  While  mov- 
ing on,  its  surface  was  in  general  a  mass  of  solid  rock ;  and 
its  mode  of  advancing,  as  is  usual  with  lava  streams,  was  by 
the  occasional  Assuring  of  the  solid  walls.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
the  tardiness  of  its  progress,  the  inhabitants  of  Catania 
watched  its  advance  with  dismay,  and  rushed  into  the 
churches  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Madonna  and  the  Saints. 
One  citizen  only,  a  certain  Baron  Papalardo,  relied  more 
upon  his  own  efforts  than  upon  supernatural  assistance,  and 
set  out  with  a  party  of  fifty  men,  dressed  in  skins  to  protect 
them  from  the  heat,  and  armed  with  iron  crows  and  hooks  for 


PROJECTION    OF    LAVA    INTO    THE    SEA.  73 

the  purpose  of  breaking  open  one  of  the  solid  walls  of  scoria? 
that  flanked  the  liquid  current,  so  as  to  divert  it  from  the 
menaced  city.  A  passage  was  thus  opened  for  a  rivulet  of 
melted  matter,  which  flowed  in  the  direction  of  Paterno  ;  but 
the  inhabitants  of  that  town  being  alarmed  for  their  safety, 
took  up  arms  against  Papalardo,  whose  fifty  workmen  would 
hardly  have  been  able  to  cope  with  the  powers  of  nature. 
Thus,  slowly  but  irresistibly,  the  lava  advanced  up  to  the 
walls  of  Catania,  which,  being  formed  of  huge  Cyclopean 
blocks,  and  no  less  than  sixty  feet  high,  at  first  stemmed  the 
fiery  stream.  But  the  glowing  floods,  pressing  against  the 
rampart,  rose  higher  and  higher,  and  finally  reaching  its 
summit,  rushed  over  it  in  fiery  cataracts,  and  destroying  part 
of  the  town,  at  length  disgorged  themselves  into  the  sea, 
where  they  formed  a  not  inconsiderable  promontory. 

A  truly  gigantic  conflict  might  naturally  be  expected  from 
the  meeting  of  two  such  powerful  and  hostile  bodies  as  fire 
and  water.  This,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  case,  for  as 
soon  as  the  lava  enters  the  sea,  the  rapid  evaporation  of 
the  water  that  comes  into  immediate  contact  with  it  accele- 
rates the  cooling  of  the  surface  and  thickens  the  hard  external 
crust  to  such  a  degree  that  very  soon  all  communication  is 
cut  off  between  the  water  and  the  fiery  mass.  While  the 
lava  continues  to  advance  from  the  land,  the  crust  of  scoria? 
is  prolonged  in  the  same  proportion,  and  should  it  be  rent 
here  and  there,  steam  is  at  once  developed  with  such  violence 
as  to  prevent  all  further  access  of  the  water  into  the  interior 
of  the  fissures.  Thus,  Breislak  informs  us  that,  in  1794,  the 
eruption  of  a  lava-stream  into  the  Bay  of  Naples,  near  Torre 
del  Greco,  took  place  with  the  greatest  tranquillity,  so  that 
he  himself  was  able  to  observe  the  advancing  of  the  lava  into 
the  sea  while  seated  in  a  boat  immediately  near  it,  without 
being  disturbed  by  explosions  or  any  other  violent  pheno- 
menon. 

As  the  crust  of  scoria?  is  so  bad  a  conductor  of  heat,  it 
occasions  a  very  slow  cooling  and  hardening  in  the  interior 
of  the  lava-stream,  forming  as  it  were  a  vessel  in  which  the 
liquid  fire  can  be  retained  and  preserved  for  a  long  time. 
When  Elie  de  Beaumont  visited  the  lava-stream  of  Etna, 
nearly  two  years  after  its  eruption  in  1832,  its  interior  was 


74  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

still  so  warm  that  he  could  not  hold  his  finger  in  the  hot 
steam  issuing  from  its  crevices.  It  has  also  been  proved,  on 
trustworthy  evidence,  that  after  twenty- five  and  thirty  years, 
many  lava-streams  of  Etna  still  continued  to  emit  heat  and 
steam ;  and  after  twenty-one  years  it  was  possible  to  light  a 
cigar  in  the  crevices  of  the  lava  that  issued  from  Jorullo  in 
1759. 

Another  extremely  curious  effect  of  the  scorise  being  such 
bad  conductors  of  heat  is,  that  masses  of  snow  will  remain 
unmelted,  though  a  lava-stream  rolls  over  them.  Thus,  in 
1787,  the  lava  of  Etna  flowed  over  a  large  deposit  of  snow, 
which,  however,  was  by  no  means  fully  liquefied,  but  remained 
for  the  greatest  part  entire,  and  gradually  changed  into  a 
gran  alar  and  solid  mass  of  ice.  This  was  traced  in  1828,  by 
the  geologist  Gemellaro,  for  a  distance  of  several  hundred 
feet  under  the  lava,  and  most  likely  still  reposes  under  it  as  in 
an  ice -cellar.  The  cliffs  which  form  the  vast  crater-ring  of  the 
Isle  of  Deception,  in  the  extreme  Southern  Atlantic,  are  like- 
wise composed  of  alternate  layers  of  ice  and  lava.  Probably 
in  both  these  cases  the  ice-beds  had  been  covered  before 
the  lava  flowed  over  them,  by  a  rain  of  scorise  and  volcanic 
sand,  which  is  so  well  known  among  the  shepherds  in  the 
higher  regions  of  Etna  as  a  bad  conductor  of  caloric,  that,  to 
obtain  a  supply  of  water  for  their  herds  during  the  summer, 
they  cover  some  snow  a  few  inches  deep  with  volcanic  sand, 
which  entirely  prevents  the  penetration  of  solar  heat. 

Most  of  the  recent  lava-streams  evolve  from  all  their  fis- 
sures and  rents  a,  quantity  of  vapour,  so  as  to  be  dotted  with 
innumerable  fumaroles,  and  to  exhibit,  as  they  flow  along,  a 
smoking  surface  by  day  and  a  luminous  one  by  night.  At 
first  these  fumaroles  are  so  impetuous  that  they  frequently 
puff  up  the  lava-crust  around  their  orifices  into  little  cones  or 
hillocks,  consisting  of  blocks  of  scoriae  irregularly  piled  up 
over  each  other,  and  from  whose  summit  the  vapours  con- 
tinue to  ascend.  As  the  mass  cools,  they  are  naturally  less- 
ened in  numbers  and  in  power  ;  but  in  1803  Humboldt'  still 
saw  fumaroles  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high,  rising  from 
the  small  cones  which  covered  by  thousands  the  great  lava- 
stream  of  Jorullo  of  the  year  1759. 

The  vast  dimensions  of  single  lava-streams  give  proof  of 


SKAPTAR   JOKULL    AND    MAUNA    LOA.  75 

the  enormous  powers  which  forced  them  out  of  the  bowels 
of  the  earth.  The  lava-stream  of  Vesuvius  which  destroyed 
Torre  del  Greco  in  1794,  is  17,500  French  feet  long,  and 
when  it  reached  the  town  was  more  than  2,000  feet  wide  and 
forty  feet  deep.  While  this  mighty  mass  of  molten  stone, 
the  volume  of  which  has  been  reckoned  at  about  457  millions 
of  cubic  feet,  was  descending  towards  the  sea,  another  stream, 
whose  mass  is  computed  at  about  one-half  of  that  of  the  for- 
mer, was  flowing  in  the  direction  of  Mauro.  This  single 
eruption  has  therefore  furnished  more  than  685  millions  of 
cubic  feet  of  lava,  equal  to  a  cube  of  882  feet,  in  which  at 
least  a  dozen  of  the  largest  churches,  palaces,  and  pyramids 
on  earth  might  conveniently  find  room.  If  to  the  solid  lava 
we  add  the  astonishing  quantities  of  scoriae,  sand,  and  ashes 
thrown  out  by  this  same  eruption,  we  may  form  some  idea  of 
the  masses  of  matter  which  were  in  this  one  instance  ejected 
from  the  interior  of  the  earth. 

The  volume  of  the  lava-stream  which  flowed  from  the  vol- 
cano of  the  Isle  of  Bourbon  in  the  year  1787  is  estimated  at 
2,526  millions  of  cubic  feet ;  but  even  this  astonishing  ejection 
of  molten  stone  is  surpassed  by  that  which  took  place  during 
the  eruption  of  Skaptar  Jokull  *  in  1783,  when  the  lava  rolled 
on  to  a  length  of  fifty  miles,  and,  on  reaching  the  plain, 
expanded  into  broad  lakes,  twelve  and  fifteen  miles  in 
diameter  and  a  hundred  feet  deep. 

In  the  great  eruption  of  Mauna  Loa,  which  commenced 
on  the  30th  of  May  1840,  the  lava  began  to  flow  from  a 
small  pit-crater  called  Avare,  about  six  miles  from  Kilauea. 
The  light  was  seen  at  a  distance,  but,  as  there  was  no  popu- 
lation in  that  direction,  it  was  supposed  to  proceed  from  a 
jungle  on  fire.  The  next  day  another  outbreak  was  perceived 
farther  towards  the  coast,  and  general  alarm  prevailed  among 
the  natives,  now  aware  of  the  impending  catastrophe.  Other 
openings  followed,  and  by  Monday  the  1st  of  June  the  large 
flow  had  begun,  which  formed  a  continuous  stream  to  the 
sea,  which  it  reached  on  the  3rd.  This  flood  issued  from 
several  fissures  along  its  whole  course,  instead  of  being  an 
overflow  of  lava  from  a  single  opening ;  it  started  from  an 

*  A  detailed  account  of  this  eruption,  one  of  the  most  dreadful  on  record,  is 
given  in  '  The  Polar  World,'  chap.  vi.  p.  81. 


76  TITE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

elevation  of  1,244  feet,  as  determined  by  Captain  Wilkes,  at 
a  point  twenty- two  miles  distant  from  the  first  outbreak,  and 
twelve  from  the  shore.  The  scene  of  the  flowing  lava,  as  we 
are  told  by  those  who  saw  it,  was  indescribably  magnificent. 
As  it  rolled  along  it  swept  away  forests  in  its  course,  at  times 
parting  and  inclosing  islets  of  earth  and  shrubbery,  and  at 
other  times  undermining  and  bearing  along  masses  of  rock 
and  vegetation  on  its  surface.  Finally,  it  plunged  into  the 
sea  with  loud  detonations,  and  for  three  weeks  continued  to 
disgorge  itself  with  little  abatement. 

The  light  which  it  emitted  converted  night  into  day  over 
all  eastern  Hawaii.  It  was  distinctly  visible  for  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  at  sea,  and  at  the  distance  of  forty  miles 
fine  print  could  be  read  at  midnight.  As  previous  to  the 
eruption,  the  whole  vast  pit  of  Kilauea  had  been  filled  to  the 
brim  with  the  lava,  which,  bursting  through  the  flanks  of  the 
mountain,  thus  found  a  vent  towards  the  sea,  we  have  some 
means  of  estimating  the  volume  of  the  ejected  masses  in  the 
actual  cubic  contents  of  the  emptied  pit.  The  area  of  the  lower 
pit,  as  determined  by  the  surveys  of  the  American  Exploring 
Expedition,  is  equal  to  38,500,000  square  feet.  Multiplying 
this  by  400  feet,  the  depth  of  the  pit  after  the  eruption,  we 
have  15,400,000,000  cubic  feet  for  the  solid  contents  of  the 
space  occupied  by  lava  before  the  eruption,  and  therefore  the 
actual  amount  of  the  material  which  flowed  from  Kilauea. 
This  is  equivalent  to  a  triangular  range  800  feet  high,  two 
miles  long,  and  over  a  mile  wide  at  base ! 

Though  generally  symptoms  of  violent  disturbance,  such  as 
shakings  of  the  earth  and  loud  thundering  noises,  precede 
the  eruption  of  lava,  yet  this  is  not  always  the  case.  Thus 
the  craters  of  Mount  Kea  have  frequently  disgorged  their 
masses  of  molten  stone  without  such  accompanying  phe- 
nomena. In  1843,  when  the  volcano  poured  out  a  flood  of 
lava,  reaching  for  twenty-five  miles  down  its  side,  all  took 
place  so  quietly  that  persons  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain 
were  unaware  of  it,  except  from  the  glare  of  light  after  the 
action  had  begun.  Through  its  progress  no  sounds  were 
heard  below,  nor  did  it  cause  any  perceptible  vibrations, 
except  in  the  region  of  the  outbreak,  and  there  none  of 
much  violence. 


PROGRESS   OF    LAVA    STREAMS.  77 

The  lava  sometimes  cools  down  with  a  smooth,  solid,  undu- 
lating surface,  marked  with  rope-like  lines  and  concentric 
folds,  such  as  are  seen  on  any  densely  viscid  liquid  if  drawn 
out  as  it  hardens ;  but  much  more  frequently  it  appears  as 
if  shattered  to  a  chaos  of  ruins.  The  fragments  vary 
from  one  to  hundreds  of  cubic  feet,  or  from  a  half-bushel 
measure  to  a  house  of  moderate  size.  They  are  of  all  shapes, 
often  in  angular  blocks,  and  sometimes  in  slabs,  and  are 
horribly  rough,  having  deep  recesses  everywhere  among 
them.  The  traveller  shudders  as  his  path  leads  him  over  a 
lava-field,  thus  bristling  with  myriads  of  spikes,  where  the 
least  false  step  would  precipitate  him  into  the  deep  cavities, 
among  the  jagged  surfaces  and  edges.  This  scene  of  horrid 
confusion  often  extends  for  miles  in  every  direction,  and, 
viewed  from  its  central  part,  the  whole  horizon  around  is 
one  wide  waste  of  gray  and  black  desolation,  beyond  the 
power  of  words  to  describe. 

The  breaking  up  of  a  lava-field  into  chaotic  masses  evi- 
dently proceeds  from  a  temporary  cessation,  either  complete 
or  partial,  and  a  subsequent  flow  of  a  stream  of  lava.  The 
surface  cools  and  hardens  as  soon  as  the  stream  slackens ; 
afterwards  there  is  another  heaving  of  the  lava,  and  an 
onward  move,  owing  to  a  succeeding  ejection  or  the  removing 
of  an  obstacle,  and  the  motion  breaks  up  the  hardened  crust, 
piling  the  masses  together,  either  in  slabs  or  huge  angular 
fragments,  according  to  the  thickness  to  which  the  crust 
had  cooled.  If  the  motion  of  a  lava-stream  be  quite  slow, 
the  cooling  of  the  front  of  it  may  cause  its  cessation,  thus 
damming  it  up  and  holding  it  back,  till  the  pressure  from 
gradual  accumulation  behind  sweeps  away  the  barrier. 
It  then  flows  on  again,  carrying  on  its  surface  masses  of 
the  hardened  crust — some,  it  may  be,  to  sink  and  melt 
again,  but  the  larger  portion  to  remain  as  a  field  of  clinkers. 
The  breaking-up  of  the  ice  of  some  streams  in  spring  gives 
some  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  hardened  masses  of  a 
lava-field  are  piled  up  as  it  moves  along;  but  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  effect,  the  mind  must  bring 
before  it  a  stream,  not  of  the  scanty  limits  of  most  rivers,  but 
one,  not  unfrequently,  of  several  miles  in  breadth  :  besides, 
in  place  of  slabs  of  pure  and  clear  ice,  there  should  be  sub- 


78  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

stituted  shaggy  heaps  of  black  scoria?,  and  a  depth  or  thick- 
ness of  many  yards  in  place  of  a  few  inches. 

Where  volcanic  mud-streams  have  flooded  the  land,  or  a 
rain  of  ashes  and  light  scoria?  has  descended  upon  the 
soil,  its  fertility  may  soon  be  restored  under  the  influence  of 
a  sunny  sky ;  but  as  far  as  the  lava  reaches,  a  stony  wilderness 
often  remains  for  ages,  particularly  in  the  colder  regions  of 
the  earth.  Thus,  though  many  of  the  lava-fields  of  Iceland 
have  existed  long  before  the  first  Scandinavian  colonists 
settled  in  the  land,  their  surface  is  generally  as  naked  as 
when  they  first  issued  from  the  volcano ;  and  where  signs  of 
vegetation  may  be  seen  among  their  fragments,  the  eye 
finds  nothing  to  relieve  the  horrid  monotony  of  the  scene 
but  spare  patches  of  lichen  and  mosses,  or  here  and  there  some 
dwarf  herb  or  shrub  that  hardly  ventures  to  peep  forth  from 
the  crevice  in  which  it  has  found  a  shelter.  But  in  a  milder 
climate,  such  as  that  of  Italy,  and  still  more  rapidly  in  the 
torrid  zone,  the  horrid  nakedness  of  a  lava-field  undergoes  a 
more  rapid  transformation,  provided  a  sufficient  moisture 
favours  the  growth  of  plants.  The  rains  promote  the  decom- 
position of  the  lava,  and  a  rank  vegetation  succeeds,  which 
in  its  turn  assists  the  work  of  decomposition,  and  thus 
hastens  the  accumulation  of  soil.  Ferns  and  grasses  spring 
up  in  the  nooks  and  crevices,  and  finally  the  vine  or  the 
taro  flourish  luxuriantly,  for  nothing  can  exceed  the  fertility 
of  a  disintegrated  lava-field. 

Volcanoes  have  frequently  been  considered  as  safety-valves, 
which,  by  affording  a  vent  to  subterranean  vapours,  preserve 
the  neighbouring  regions  from  the  far  more  disastrous  and 
wide-spreading  effects  of  earthquakes ;  and  facts  are  not 
wanting  which  seem  to  justify  this  opinion.  After  the  soil  had 
trembled  for  a  long  time  throughout  the  whole  of  Syria,  in 
the  Cyclades,  and  in  Euboea,  the  shocks  suddenly  ceased 
when,  in  the  plains  near  Chalcis,  a  stream  of '  glowing  mud ' 
(lava  from  a  crevice)  issued  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 
Strabo,  who  relates  this  incident,  adds  that  '  since  the 
craters  of  Etna  have  been  opened,  through  which  fire  ascends, 
the  land  on  the  sea-coast  is  less  subject  to  earthquakes  than 
at  the  time  when  all  vents  on  the  surface  were  stopped  up.' 

Before    the    earthquake   which   destroyed   the    town    of 


STATE    OF   THE    EARTH  S   INTERIOR.  79 

Biobamba,  the  smoke  of  the  volcano  of  Pasto,  which  is  200 
miles  distant,  disappeared.  The  Neapolitans  and  Sicilians 
consider  the  eruptions  of  Vesuvius  and  Etna,  or  even  a  more 
lively  activity  of  these  volcanoes,  as  a  certain  preservative 
against  devastating  earthquakes,  and  we  meet  with  the 
same  belief  among  the  inhabitants  of  Quito  and  Peru.  But 
in  many  cases  this  fancied  security  has  proved  to  be  delusive, 
as  very  violent  earthquakes  have  not  seldom  been  found  to 
accompany  volcanic  eruptions.  The  great  Chilian  earth- 
quake of  1835 'coincided  with  an  eruption  of  Antuco ;  and 
the  shocks  which  agitated  all  Kamtschatka  and  the  long 
chain  of  the  Kurilian  Islands,  in  1787,  occurred  simultaneously 
with  an  eruption  of  Kliutschewskaja  Skopa. 

Professor  Dana  doubts  whether  action  so  deep-seated  as 
that  of  the  earthquake  must  be  can  often  find  relief  in  the 
narrow  channels  of  a  volcano  miles  in  length.  He  points 
out  the  example  of  Mauna  Loa,  where  lavas  are  frequently 
poured  out  from  the  summit  crater,  at  an  elevation  of  more 
than  10,000  feet  above  Kilauea,  so  that  the  latter,  notwith- 
standing its  extent,  the  size  of  its  great  lakes  of  lava,  and 
the  freedom  of  the  incessant  ebullition,  is  not  a  safety-valve 
that  can  protect  even  its  own  immediate  neighbourhood. 

In  his  opinion  volcanoes  might  more  fitly  be  called  indexes 
of  danger.  They  point  out  those  portions  of  the  globe  which 
are  most  subject  to  earthquakes,  and  are  results  of  the  same 
causes  that  render  a  country  liable  to  such  convulsions. 

The  phenomena  attending  an  eruption  can  leave  no  doubt 
that  below  every  active  volcano  a  large  subterranean  cavity 
must  exist  in  which  melted  lava  accumulates.  The  partisans  of 
the  theory  which  supposes  the  earth  to  consist  of  a  central 
fluid  mass  with  a  solid  shell  resting  upon  it,  attribute  the 
formation  of  volcanoes  to  rents  or  fissures  in  this  crust  through 
which  the  lava  is  cast  forth ;  but  the  local  development  of 
heat  by  chemical  action,  or  some  other  unknown  cause,  is 
quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  existence  of  fiery  lakes  im- 
bedded in  a  solid  mass,  and  which,  though  insignificant  when 
compared  with  the  surface  of  the  globe,  may  still  be  large 
enough  to  produce  volcanic  phenomena  on  the  grandest  scale. 

The  cause  of  the  reaction  of  such  a  reservoir  against  the 
surface  of  the  earth  must  in  all  probability  be  sought  for  in 


80  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  expansive  force  of  steam ;  for  when  water,  penetrating 
through  crevices  or  porous  strata,  comes  in  contact  with 
the  heated  subterranean  mass,  it  is  evident  that  the  steam 
thus  generated  must  press  upon  the  lava,  and,  when  formed 
in  sufficient  quantity,  ultimately  forces  it  up  the  duct  of  the 
volcano.  In  other  cases,  we  may  suppose  a  continuous 
column  of  lava  mixed  with  liquid  water  raised  to  a  red-hot, 
or  white-hot,  temperature  under  the  influence  of  pressure. 
A  disturbance  of  equilibrium  may  first  bring  on  an  eruption 
near  the  surface,  by  the  expansion  and  conversion  into  gas 
of  the  entangled  water,  so  as  to  lessen  pressure.  More 
and  more  steam  would  then  be  liberated,  bringing  up  with  it 
jets  of  liquid  rock,  and  ultimately  ejecting  a  continuous 
stream  of  lava.  Its  force  being  spent,  a  period  of  rest  suc- 
ceeds, until  the  conditions  for  a  new  outburst  (accumulation 
of  steam  and  melted  rock)  are  obtained,  and  another  cycle  of 
similar  changes  is  renewed.  The  important  part  which  water 
plays  in  volcanic  action  is  moreover  sufficiently  proved  by  the 
enormous  quantity  of  steam  which  is  poured  forth  during 
every  eruption,  or  is  constantly  escaping  in  the  fumaroles  of 
a  crater.  The  various  gases  (carbonic,  muriatic,  sulphurous) 
which  are  likewise  exhaled  by  volcanoes  may  also  have  been 
rendered  liquid  by  pressure  at  great  depths,  and  may  assist 
the  action  of  water  in  causing  eruptive  outbursts.  The  great 
number  of  active  volcanoes  on  sea-coasts  and  in  islands  like- 
wise points  to  the  agency  of  water  in  volcanic  operations  ; 
and  in  the  few  cases  where  eruptive  cones  are  situated  far 
inland,  their  situation  on  the  borders  of  a  lake,  or  their 
cavernous  and  porous  structure,  accounts  for  the  absorption 
of  a  quantity  of  atmospheric  water,  sufficient  for  the  produc- 
tion of  volcanic  phenomena. 


81 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DESTRUCTION   OP    HEECULANEUM    AND    POMPEII. 

State  of  Vesuvius  before  the  eruption  in  the  year  79  a.c— Spartacus — Premonitory 
Earthquakes — Letter  of  Pliny  the  Younger  to  Tacitus,  relating  the  death  of  his 
Uncle,  Pliny  the  Elder — Benevolence  of  the  Emperor  Titus — Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii  buried  under  a  muddy  alluvium — Herculaneum  first  discovered  in 
1713. 

OF  all  the  volcanic  eruptions  recorded  in  history  there  is 
none  more  celebrated  than  that  which,  on  the  23rd  of 
August,  a.d.  79, buried  the  towns  of  Herculaneum  aud  Pompeii 
under  a  deluge  of  mud  and  ashes.  Many  other  eruptions 
have  no  doubt  been  on  a  grander  scale,  or  may  have  spread 
ruin  and  desolation  over  a  wider  area,  but  never  has  a  vol- 
cano, awakening  from  the  slumber  of  a  thousand  years,  de- 
vastated a  more  smiling  paradise  than  the  fields  of  happy 
Campania,  or  buried  more  beautiful  cities. 

Before  that  terrible  catastrophe,  Mount  Vesuvius,  now  con- 
stantly smoking,  even  in  times  of  rest,  had,  ever  since  the  first 
colonisation  of  South  Italy  by  the  Greeks,  exhibited  no  signs 
of  volcanic  activity.  Even  tradition  knew  of  no  previous  dis- 
turbance. No  subterranean  thunder,  or  sulphurous  steams,  or 
cast-up  ashes,  gave  token  of  the  fires  slumbering  beneath  its 
basis ;  and  the  real  nature  of  the  apparently  so  peaceful 
mountain  could  only  be  conjectured  from  the  similarity  of 
its  structure  to  other  volcanoes,  or  from  the  ancient  lava- 
streams  that  furrowed  its  abrupt  declivities.  At  that  time 
also  its  shape  was  very  different  from  its  present  form,  for 
instead  of  two  apices,  it  exhibited,  from  a  distance,  the  re- 
gular outlines  of  a  sharply  truncated  cone.  Plutarch  relates 
that  rough  rock  walls,  piled  round  its  summit,  and  overgrown 
with*  wild  vines,  inclosed  the  waste  of  the  crater. 

G 


82  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

When,  in  73  B.C.,  Spartacus,  with  seventy  of  his  comrades, 
broke  the  fetters  of  an  insupportable  slavery,  he  found  a 
secure  retreat  in  this  natural  stronghold,  which  could  only  be 
scaled  by  a  single  narrow  and  difficult  path.  By  degrees 
10,000  fugitive  slaves  gathered  round  his  standard,  and  Rome 
began  to  tremble  for  her  safety.  The  prsetor  Clodius  led  an 
army  against  the  rebels,  and  surrounded  the  mountain ;  but 
Spartacus  caused  ropes  to  be  made  of  the  branches  of  wild 
vines,  by  means  of  which  he,  with  the  boldest  of  his  followers, 
was  let  down  from  the  rocks,  where  they  were  supposed  to  be 
totally  inaccessible,  and,  falling  unawares  upon  the  praetor, 
put  his  troops  to  flight  and  took  his  camp.  The  declivities 
of  the  mountain,  thus  become  historically  renowned,  were 
covered  with  the  richest  fields  and  vineyards,  and  at  its  foot, 
along  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Naples,  lay  the  flourishing  towns 
of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  the  seats  of  luxury  and  refine- 
ment. Who  could,  then,  have  imagined  that  this  charming 
scene  was  so  soon  to  be  disturbed  in  so  terrible  a  manner, 
and  that  the  time  was  nigh  when  the  ancient  volcanic 
channels,  from  which,  in  unknown  ages,  lava-streams  and 
ashes  had  so  frequently  broken  forth,  were  once  more  to  be 
re-opened  ?  The  first  sign  which  announced  the  awakening 
energies  of  the  volcano  was  an  earthquake,  which,  in  63  a.d. 
devastated  the  fertile  regions  of  Campania.  From  that  time 
to  the  crowning  disaster  of  79,  slight  tremors  of  the  earth 
frequently  occurred,  until,  finally,  the  dreadful  eruption  took 
place  which  Pliny  the  Younger  so  vividly  describes  in  his 
celebrated  letter  to  Tacitus. 

'  My  uncle,'  says  the  Roman,  '  was  at  Misenum,  where  he 
commanded  the  fleet.  On  the  23rd  of  August,  about  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  my  mother  informed  him  that  a  cloud  of  an 
uncommon  size  and  form  was  seen  to  arise.  He  had  sunned 
himself  (according  to  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Romans),  and 
taken  his  usual  cold  bath,  then  dined,  and  studied.  He 
asked  for  his  sandals,  and  ascended  an  eminence,  from  which 
the  wonderful  phenomenon  could  be  plainly  seen.  The  spot 
from  whence  the  cloud  ascended,  in  a  shape  like  that  of  an 
Italian  pine-tree,  could  not  be  ascertained  on  account  of  the 
distance ;  its  arising  from  Vesuvius  only  subsequently  became 
known. 


RENEWED    ACTIVITY    OF   VESUVIUS.  83 

6  In  some  parts  it  was  white,  in  others  black  and  spotted, 
from  the  ashes  and  stones  which  it  carried  along.  To  my 
uncle,  being  a  learned  man,  the  phenomenon  seemed  impor- 
tant, and  worthy  of  a  closer  investigation.  He  ordered  a 
light  ship  to  be  got  ready,  and  left  it  to  my  option  to  accom- 
pany him.  I  answered  that  I  preferred  studying,  and  by 
chance  he  himself  had  given  me  something  to  write.  He 
was  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  house  when  he  received  a 
letter  from  Resina,  the  inhabitants  of  which,  alarmed  at  the 
impending  danger — the  place  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
and  escape  was  only  possible  by  sea — begged  him  to  help 
them  in  their  great  distress.  He  now  changed  his  plan,  and 
executed  as  a  hero  the  undertaking  to  which  he  had  been 
prompted  as  a  natural  philosopher. 

'  He  ordered  the  galleys  of  war  to  set  sail,  and  embarked 
to  bring  help,  not  only  to  Resina,  but  to  many  other  places 
along  the  coast,  which,  on  account  of  its  loveliness,  was  very 
densely  peopled. 

'  He  hastens  to  the  spot  from  which  others  are  taking  flight, 
and  steers  in  a  direct  line  towards  the  seat  of  danger,  so  un- 
concerned as  to  dictate  his  observations  upon  all  the  events 
and  changes  of  the  catastrophe,  as  they  passed  before  his 
eyes. 

'  Already  ashes  fell  upon  the  ship,  hotter  and  thicker  on 
approaching,  as  also  pumice  and  other  stones  blackened  and 
burnt  by  fire.  Suddenly  a  shallow  bottom,  and  the  masses 
ejected  by  the  eruption,  rendered  the  coast  inaccessible.  He 
hesitated  for  a  moment  whether  he  should  sail  back  again, 
but,  soon  resolved,  said  to  the  steersman  who  advised  him  to 
do  so,  "  Fortune  favours  the  bold ;  steer  towards  the  villa  of 
Pomponianus."  This  friend  resided  at  Stabiae,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  bay,  where  the  danger,  although  as  yet  at  some 
distance,  was  still  within  sight,  and  menacing  enough. 
Pomponianus  had  therefore  caused  his  effects  to  be  conveyed 
on  board  a  ship,  intent  on  flight  so  soon  as  the  contrary  wind 
should  have  abated.  As  soon  as  my  uncle,  to  whom  it  was 
very  favourable,  has  landed,  he  embraces,  consoles,  encourages 
his  terrified  friend,  takes  a  bath  to  relieve  his  fears  by  his 
own  confidence,  and  dines  after  the  bath  with  perfect  com- 
posure, or,  what  is  no  less  great,  with  a  serene  countenance. 

a  2 


84  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

'  Meanwhile  high  columns  of  flame  burst  forth  from  Vesu- 
vius in  various  places,  their  brilliancy  being  increased  by  the 
darkness  of  the  night.  My  uncle,  with  the  intention  of  re- 
lieving apprehension,  said  that  they  proceeded  from  the  villas 
which,  abandoned  by  their  terrified  proprietors  and  left  a 
prey  to  the  flames,  were  now  burning  in  solitude.  He  then 
retired  and  slept  soundly,  for  his  attendants  before  the  door 
heard  him  fetch  his  breath,  which,  on  account  of  his  corpu- 
lence, was  deep  and  loud.  But  now  the  court,  into  which 
the  room  opened,  became  filled  to  such  a  height  with  ashes 
and  pumice  that  by  a  longer  delay  he  would  not  have  been 
able  to  leave  it.  They  awaken  him,  he  rises,  and  greets 
Pomponianus  and  the  others  who  had  watched.  They  con- 
sult together,  whether  to  remain  in  the  house  or  to  flee  into 
the  open  air,  for  the  ground  trembled  from  the  repeated  and 
violent  shocks  of  the  earth,  and  seemed  to  reel  backwards 
and  forwards.  On  the  other  hand,  they  feared  in  the  open 
air  the  falling  of  the  pumice-stones  and  cinders.  On  com- 
paring these  two  dangers,  flight  was  chosen;  and,  as  a  pro- 
tection against  the  shower  of  stones,  they  covered  their  heads 
with  cushions.  Everywhere  else  the  day  was  already  far 
advanced,  but  the  blackest  night  still  reigned  at  Stabire. 
Provided  with  torches,  they  resolved  to  seek  the  shore,  in 
order  to  ascertain  whether  they  could  venture  to  embark, 
but  the  sea  was  found  to  be  too  wild  and  boisterous. 

'My  uncle  now  lay  down  upon  a  carpet,  and  asked  for 
some  cold  water,  of  which  he  repeatedly  drank.  The  flames 
and  their  sulphurous  odour  drove  away  his  companions,  and 
forced  him  to  rise.  Leaning  on  two  slaves,  he  tried  to  move, 
but  immediately  sank  down  again,  suffocated  as  I  believe  by 
the  dense  smoke,  and  by  the  closing  of  his  larynx,  which  was 
by  nature  weak,  narrow,  and  subject  to  frequent  spasms. 
On  the  third  morning  after  his  death,  the  body  was  found 
without  any  marks  of  violence,  covered  with  the  clothes  he 
had  worn,  and  more  like  a  person  sleeping  than  a  corpse.' 

Thus  perished,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  one  of  the  greatest 
naturalists  and  noblest  characters  of  ancient  Rome,  the 
philosopher  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  first  general 
description  of  the  world— a  work  which,  in  spite  of  its  nume- 
rous imperfections  and  errors,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
monuments  of  classical  literature. 


DESTRUCTION    OF    POMPEII.  85 

When  the  rage  of  the  volcanic  powers  had  subsided,  the 
sun,  now  no  longer  obscured  by  clouds  of  ashes,  shone  upon 
a  scene  of  utter  desolation,  where  nature,  embellished  by  art, 
had,  but  a  few  days  before,  appeared  in  all  her  loveliness. 
The  mountain  itself  had  changed  its  form,  and  rose  with 
new  peaks  to  the  skies;  a  thick  layer  of  stones  and  dust  had 
settled  with  the  curse  of  sterility  on  the  fields  ;  thousands  of 
homeless  wretches  wandered  about  disconsolate,  and  three 
towns — Pompeii,  Herculaneum,  Stabise — had  disappeared  to 
be  brought  to  light  again  in  a  wonderful  manner  after  the 
lapse  of  many  centuries. 

This  great  catastrophe  gave  the  Emperor  Titos  a  fine 
opportunity  for  displaying  the  benevolence  which  entitled 
him  to  be  called  6  the  delight  of  mankind.'  He  immediately 
hastened  to  the  scene  of  destruction,  appointed  guardians  of 
consular  rank  to  distribute  among  the  needy  survivors  the 
property  of  those  who  had  perished  without  heirs ;  and 
encouraged  the  weak-hearted,  assisting  them  by  liberal 
donations,  until  a  no  less  terrible  misfortune  recalled  him  to 
Rome,  where  a  fire,  which  laid  almost  half  the  town  in  ashes, 
was  followed  by  a  plague,  which,  for  some  time,  daily  swept 
away  thousands. 

It  has  often  been  asked  how  so  many  of  the  relics  buried 
in  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  could  have  been  so  perfectly 
preserved  as  to  form  a  Museum  of  the  Past  for  the  admira- 
tion and  instruction  of  future  ages.  A  stream  of  lava  would 
undoubtedly  have  consumed  everything  on  its  fiery  track,  but, 
fortunately  for  posterity,  it  was  not  a  flood  of  molten  stone, 
but  a  current  of  mud  which  overwhelmed  the  devoted  cities. 
We  learn  from  history  that  a  heavy  shower  of  sand,  pumice, 
and  lapilli  was  ejected  by  Vesuvius  for  eight  successive  days 
and  nights,  in  the  year  79,  accompanied  by  violent  rains, 
and  thus  all  these  volcanic  matters  were  converted  into  mud- 
streams,  which,  rushing  down  the  sides  of  the  mountain, 
descended  upon  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  This  circum- 
stance satisfactorily  explains  how  the  interior  of  the  buildings, 
with  all  the  underground  vaults  and  cellars,  was  filled  up, 
and  how  all  the  objects  they  contained  could  be  as  perfectly 
moulded  as  in  a  plaster  cast  by  the  muddy  alluvium,  which 
subsequently  hardened  into  pumice  tuff.    Hence  this  wonder- 


86  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

fill  preservation  of  paintings,  which,  shielded  from  the 
destructive  influence  of  the  atmosphere,  still  retained  their 
original  freshness  of  colour  when  again  brought  to  light 
by  a  late  generation;  these  rolls  of  papyrus  which  it  has 
been  found  possible  to  decipher;  this  perfect  cast  of  a 
woman's  form,  with  a  child  in  her  arms  ! 

No  lava  has  flowed  over  Pompeii  since  that  city  was  buried, 
but  with  Herculaneum  the  case  is  different.  Although  the 
substance  which  fills  the  interior  of  the  buildings  in  that 
doomed  city  must  have  been  introduced  in  a  state  of  mud 
like  that  found  in  similar  situations  in  Pompeii,  yet  the 
superincumbent  mass  differs  wholly  in  composition  and 
thickness. 

Herculaneum  was  situated  several  miles  nearer  to  the 
volcano,  and  has,  therefore,  been  always  more  liable  to  be 
covered,  not  only  by  showers  of  ashes,  but  by  alluvium  and 
streams  of  lava.  Accordingly,  masses  of  both  have  accumu- 
lated on  each  other  above  the  ancient  site  of  the  city,  to  a 
depth  of  nowhere  less  than  70,  and  in  many  places  of  112 
feet;  while  the  depth  of  the  bed  of  ashes  under  which 
Pompeii  lies  buried  seldom  exceeds  12  or  14  feet  above 
the  houses,  and  it  is  even  said  that  the  higher  part  of  the 
amphitheatre  always  projected  above  the  surface. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  Herculaneum,  though  far  more  pro- 
foundly hidden,  was  discovered  before  Pompeii,  by  the 
accidental  circumstance  that  a  well  sunk  in  1713  came 
right  down  upon  the  theatre  where  the  statues  of  Hercules 
and  Cleopatra  were  found.  Many  others  were  afterwards 
dug  out  and  sent  to  Prance  by  the  Prince  of  Elbeuf,  who, 
having  married  a  Neapolitan  princess,  became  proprietor  of 
the  field  under  which  the  theatre  lies  buried.  Further  exca- 
vations were,  however,  forbidden  by  Government,  and  only 
resumed  in  1736.  But  the  difficulty  of  removing  the  large 
masses  of  lava  accumulated  above  the  city,  and  the  circum- 
stance of  its  partly  lying  under  the  modern  towns  of  Portici 
and  Resina  have  confined  the  exploration  of  Herculaneum 
within  narrow  limits.  The  large  theatre  alone  is  open  for 
inspection,  and  can  be  seen  only  by  torchlight,  so  that  its 
dark  galleries,  cut  through  the  tuff,  are  but  seldom  visited 
by    strangers;    while    no   traveller    leaves   Naples   without 


RUINS   OF   HERCULANEUM.  87 

having  wandered  through  the  ruins  of  Pompeii,  for  Italy 
hardly  affords  a  more  interesting  sight  than  that  of  these 
streets  and  forums,  these  theatres  and  temples,  these  houses 
and  villas,  which  require  but  the  presence  of  their  ancient 
inhabitants  to  complete  the  picture  of  a  Roman  town,  such 
as  it  was  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 


88  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

GAS    SPRINGS    AND    MUD    VOLCANOES. 

Carbonic- acid  Springs — Grotto  del  Cane — The  Valley  of  Death  in  Java- -Exagge- 
rated Descriptions — Carburetted  Hydrogen  Springs — The  Holy  Fires  of  Baku  — 
Description  of  the  Temple — Mud  Volcanoes — The  Macaluba  in  Sicily — Crimean 
Mud  Volcanoes  -Volcanic  Origin  of  Mud  Volcanoes. 

THE  numerous  gas  springs  which  in  many  countries  are 
evolved  from  an  unknown  depth,  afford  us  a  convinc- 
ing proof  that  the  remarkable  chemical  transformations 
of  which  we  find  so  many  traces  in  the  past  history  of  our 
planet  are  still  perpetually  taking  place  in  many  of  the 
mysterious  crevices  and  hollows  of  the  earth- rind.  In 
Auvergne,  the  Vivarrais,  the  Eifel,  and  along  the  whole 
basaltic  range  from  the  Ehine  to  the  Riesengebirge  in 
Silesia,  carbonic  acid  gas  is  exhaled  in  incredible  quantities 
from  the  vast  laboratories  of  the  subterranean  world. 

Professor  Bischoff  found  that  a  single  gas  spring  near 
Burgbrohl  daily  produced  5,650  cubic  feet  of  carbonic  acid, 
a  quantity  amounting  in  the  course  of  a  year  to  no  less 
than  262,000  pounds  in  weight ;  and,  according  to  Bromeis, 
the  great  Artesian  spring  at  Nauheim  evolves  every  minute 
71  cubic  feet  of  carbonic  acid,  equal  to  a  weight  of  5,000,000 
pounds  annually.  If  from  these  two  instances  we  judge  of 
the  produce  of  the  many  carbonic  acid  gas  springs  of 
Germany,  and  if  we  further  extend  our  view  to  the  rest  of 
the  world,  in  many  parts  of  which  carbonic  acid  probably 
escapes  in  still  greater  quantities,  we  can  form  some  idea 
of  the  geological  importance  of  these  springs,  which  also 
exercise  no  small  influence  upon  the  organic  world.  For 
the  incalculable  masses  of  carbonic  acid  which  are  thus 
constantly  pouring  from  subterranean  vents  into  the  atmo- 
spheric ocean  are  again  absorbed  by  millions  of  plants.    They 


CARBONIC-ACID    SPRINGS.  89 

feed  the  forests  and  the  fields ;  and  thus  these  chemical 
changes,  which  are  incessantly  but  imperceptibly  modifying 
the  earth-rind,  ultimately  tend  to  the  advantage  of  man. 

As  a  light  dipped  in  carbonic  acid  gas  is  immediately 
extinguished,  and  every  animal  inhaling  it  is  liable  to  instant 
suffocation,  these  properties  are  sometimes  made  use  of  for 
cruel  experiments,  for  which,  among  others,  the  insignificant 
Grotto  del  Cane,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples — a  cave  or  hole  in 
the  side  of  a  mountain  near  the  Lake  Agnano — has  become 
notorious.  Some  miserable  dogs  are  thrust  into  the  stratum 
of  fixed  air  which  covers  the  bottom  of  the  hole,  and  are 
alternately  almost  choked  and  resuscitated  to  satisfy  the 
idle  curiosity  of  tourists.  Their  violent  efforts  to  escape, 
when  about  to  be  plunged  into  the  poisonous  vapour,  prove 
the  horrible  cruelty  of  the  practice. 

The  carbonic-acid  springs  in  the  glen  of  the  Brohl,  a  small 
rivulet  flowing  into  the  Rhine,  near  Andernach,  are  turned 
to  a  better  purpose,  for  the  manufacture  of  white  lead. 

The  famous  '  Valley  of  Death,'  or  Poison  Valley,  in  the 
Island  of  Java,  is  nothing  more  than  a  funnel-shaped  hollow, 
measuring  about  1 00  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top,  and  with  a 
bare  space  in  its  centre  fifteen  feet  broad  and  long,  which  is 
frequently  covered  with  a  stratum  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  The 
sides  of  the  hollow,  and  even  the  bottom,  with  the  exception 
of  the  above-mentioned  naked  spot,  are  everywhere  clothed 
with  shrubbery,  or  even  with  forest  trees. 

The  dead  bodies  of  stags,  tigers,  wild  boars,  and  birds  are 
said  to  have  been  frequently  found  in  the  hollow  ;  but  Dr. 
Junghuhn,  the  author  of  a  classical  work  on  Java,  saw  in  1838 
but  one  human  corpse  lying  on  its  back  in  the  centre  of  the 
bare  spot.  It  was  still  there  in  1840,  and  but  slightly  de- 
composed. In  1845  it  had  been  removed,  most  likely  by 
some  compassionate  wanderers  desirous  of  giving  it  a  decent 
burial,  for  not  the  slightest  trace  of  the  skeleton  remained. 
During  the  years  1838,  1840,  and  1845  Junghuhn  visited  the 
Valley  of  Death  no  less  than  thirteen  times.  When  he  last 
saw  it,  the  bodies  of  six  wild  hogs  were  lying  at  the  bottom, 
all  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  putrefaction.  The  crows  that 
were  feasting  upon  their  remains  proved  that  a  descent 
might  be  effected  without  danger,  for,  on  seeing  them  hop- 


90  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

ping  about  on  the  naked  soil,  even  the  Javanese  entered  the 
circle  without  hesitation.  Not  a  single  trace  of  carbonic 
acid  was  to  be  perceived,  not  even  when  the  bold  naturalist 
stretched  himself  out  upon  the  ground  and  drew  his  breath 
in  the  crevices  and  rents  with  which  it  is  furrowed.  Pro- 
bably the  gas  never  rises  more  than  three  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  soil,  as  at  this  height  a  luxuriant  vegetation 
begins. 

This  simple  description  of  an  accurate  observer  forms  a 
strange  contrast  to  the  gross  exaggeration  of  other  travellers, 
whose  accounts,  copied  in  many  hand-books,  have  puffed  up 
a  phenomenon  hardly  superior  to  that  of  the  Grotto  del  Cane 
into  something  like  an  eighth  wonder  of  the  world.  Loudon, 
who  in  July  1830  visited  the  Pakamaran  (as  the  natives  call 
the  pit),  swells  its  dimensions  to  a  vast  crater  about  half 
a  mile  in  circumference,  thickly  strewn  with  skeletons  of 
men,  tigers,  game,  and  birds  of  all  kinds ;  and  another 
recent  traveller  goes  so  far  as  to  give  it  an  extent  of  twenty 
miles. 

Next  to  carbonic  acid,  but  of  far  less  general  occurrence, 
carburetted  hydrogen,  which  gives  rise  to  the  wonderful 
phenomenon  of  fiery  springs,  is  the  gas  most  frequently 
evolved  by  volcanic  spiracles. 

Near  Pietra  Mala,  between  Bologna  and  Florence,  on  a 
spot  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  several  flames  rise  from 
the  earth,  the  largest  of  which  ascends  to  a  height  of  five 
feet,  and  is  seen  burning  at  night  with  a  pale  yellow  flame, 
while  its  minor  satellites  around  are  blue  tipped  with  white. 
No  doubt  many  a  terrible  legend  is  attached  to  this  infernal 
spectacle.  Near  Barigazzo,  between  Modena  and  Pistoja, 
near  the  ruins  of  Velleji,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  the 
volcanic  region  of  the  Apennines,  similar  flames  gush  out  of 
the  ground.  The  neat  little  town  of  Fredonia,  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  is  lighted 
by  natural  springs  of  carburetted  hydrogen,  which,  being  led 
into  a  gasometer,  feed  the  seventy  or  eighty  lamps  of  the  town. 
The  thrifty  and  practical  Chinese,  who  have  preceded  us  in 
so  many  useful  discoveries,  have  for  centuries  made  a  like 
use  of  the  many  gaseous  emanations  in  the  provinces  of 
Yunnan,  Szutschuan,  Kuangsi,  and  Schansi,  by  leading  the 


BURNING   SPRINGS.  91 

inflammable  air  in  pipes,  wherever  they  want  it  for  lighting 
or  cooking. 

But  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  more  remarkable  for  its 
burning  springs  than  Baku,  on  the  western  coast  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  where  the  holy  and  eternal  fires  are  worshipped 
by  the  pious  Parsees  as  the  special  symbol  of  the  Almighty. 

Like  most  of  the  cloisters  and  convents  of  the  Orient, 
which  are  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  plundering  hordes, 
Aleschga,  the  temple  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  fire,  is  a 
fortified  square  inclosing  a  large  courtyard,  and  capable  of 
being  defended  from  the  terraced  roof.  The  outer  wall 
forms  at  the  same  time  the  back  of  the  cells,  which  front  the 
yard.  Over  the  entrance  gate,  which  is  situated  to  the 
north,  rises  a  high  bastion  or  tower,  serving  as  an  additional 
defence,  from  the  summit  of  which  the  visitor  enjoys  after 
sunset  the  fantastic  view  of  the  flames  which,  untarnished 
by  smoke,  rise  on  all  sides  from  rents  and  crevices  in  the 
neighbouring  steppe,  and  wave  their  bright  summits  to  and 
fro  like  tongues  of  fire.  In  the  centre  of  the  court  stands 
a  square  tower  supported  by  four  columns,  and  inclosing  a 
basin-like  excavation,  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  into 
which  the  gas  is  conducted  by  a  pipe  from  sources  beyond 
the  walls  of  the  temple.  Four  chimneys  at  the  four  corners 
of  the  tower  are  fed  in  a  similar  manner.  From  the  centre 
of  the  tower  rises  a  trident,  called  Thirsul.  The  Parsees 
relate  that  the  Devil  once  got  possession  of  the  earth,  and 
reigned  with  despotic  fury.  But  man  in  his  distress  prayed 
to  the  Almighty,  and  an  angel  came  down  and  planted  this 
identical  trident  in  the  earth  as  a  token  that  the  dominion 
of  his  Satanic  Majesty  had  ceased.  Round  the  court  are 
twenty-two  cells,  like  those  of  a  Catholic  convent.  They  are 
very  small,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  ragged  rug,  wholly 
without  furniture ;  but  each  of  them  is  provided  with  a 
gas  pipe,  which  can  be  opened  or  closed  at  pleasure,  and 
furnishes  light  and  warmth  to  the  inmate.  Near  the  temple 
a  well  has  been  dug  fifty  feet  deep,  in  which  the  gas  accumu- 
lates in  larger  quantities.  Koch  ('  Wanderungen  im  Oriente,' 
1843-4)  tells  us  that  he  here  enjoyed  a  sight  more  won- 
derful and  surprising  than  any  he  had  ever  witnessed  before. 
A  carpet  was  spread  over  the  mouth  of  the  well  to  prevent 


92  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  gas  from  escaping.  After  a  few  minutes,  a  priest  seized 
a  bundle  of  brushwood,  in  which  a  piece  of  burning  paper 
had  been  stuck,  and  flung  it  into  the  well,  after  quickly 
removing  the  carpet.  The  strangers  had  previously  been 
warned  to  keep  at  some  distance,  and  the  priest  and  his 
assistants  likewise  ran  off  as  fast  as  they  could.  About  half 
a  minute  after  the  fire-brand  had  been  cast  into  the  pit,  a 
terrific  explosion  took  place,  and  a  vast  column  of  fire,  in  the 
shape  of  an  inverted  cone  (from  the  gas  spreading  out  as 
soon  as  it  emerges  from  the  pit),  ascended  to  the  skies. 

How  long  the  fires  of  Baku  may  have  been  burning  is  un- 
known, but  it  is  very  probable  that  they  did  not  exist  before  the 
Christian  era.  No  Greek  or  Roman  author  mentions  them, 
and  it  is  not  before  the  tenth  century  that  Arab  writers 
take  notice  of  Baku  and  its  wonders.  When  the  Sassan- 
ides  restored  the  religion  of  Zoroaster,  the  attention  of 
these  fire-worshipping  princes  was  naturally  directed  to  a 
place  where  fire  gushes  pure  and  unbidden  from  the  earth. 
They  raised  a  temple  on  the  spot,  and  thousands  of  pilgrims 
wand^ed  to  the  holy  fires  of  Baku.  But  when  the  fanatical 
Arabs  overthrew  the  Persian  Empire,  times  of  persecution 
and  distress  began  for  the  Parsees  ;  and  still  later  they  were 
almost  entirely  extirpated  by  the  hordes  of  Tamerlane. 
During  the  last  centuries  fire-worshipping  was  again  intro- 
duced by  the  Indians,  who,  after  the  Sefides  had  ascended 
the  Persian  throne,  gradually  settled  in  the  Caspian  pro- 
vinces, and  whose  number  must  have  been  considerable,  as 
travellers  inform  us  that  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  200  rich  Indian  merchants  wTere  residing  in  the 
town  of  Schemachi.  But  the  anarchical  times  which  fol- 
lowed the  usurpation  of  Nadir  Schah  forced  most  of  these 
Indians  to  leave  their  adopted  country,  and  since  then  only 
solitary  pilgrims  have  found  their  way  to  Baku.  But  the 
number  even  of  these  is  constantly  diminishing,  although 
the  Russians,  to  whom  the  sanctuary  now  belongs,  allow 
them  full  freedom  of  access.  When  Koch  was  at  Baku,  he 
found  there  only  five  Indians  from  Mooltan,  whither  the 
majority  would  gladly  have  returned,  had  they  but  possessed 
the  necessary  means.  Their  squalid  appearance  and  tattered 
raiment  formed  the  strongest   imaginable   contrast  to  the 


MUD    VOLCANOES.  03 

splendour  of  the  element  they  worshipped.  Among  them 
was  a  Fakir,  who  had  made  a  vow  constantly  to  remain  in 
the  same  position  absorbed  in  religious  contemplation,  and 
who  for  sixteen  years  had  never  moved  from  the  spot. 

The  burning  springs  gush  out  not  only  from  the  ground  near 
the  temple  and  in  other  parts  of  the  peninsula  of  Abscheron, 
but  even  from  the  bottom  of  the  neighbouring  Caspian  Sea ; 
and  as  Sir  Charles  Lyell  saw  carburetted  hydrogen  rise  in 
countless  bubbles  through  the  crystal  waters  above  the  falls 
of  the  Niagara,  and  shoot  up  in  bright  flames  at  the  approach 
of  a  light,  so  Dr.  Abich  mentions  a  spot  in  the  Gulf  of 
Baku  where  the  inflammable  gas  issues  with  such  force, 
and  in  so  great  a  quantity,  from  the  bottom,  which  is  there 
three  fathoms  deep,  that  a  small  boat  is  in  danger  of  being- 
overturned  when  coming  too  near  it. 

As  gas  springs  most  frequently  occur  in  districts  which 
have  been  the  former  seats  of  volcanic  action,  and  as  similar 
exhalations  often  arise  from  still  active  craters,  they  are 
supposed  by  many  geologists  to  be  the  last  remaining  traces 
of  an  expiring  volcanic  energy.  Bischoff  considers  the  car- 
bonic acid  of  the  German  gas  springs  to  be  developed  by 
the  decomposition  of  carbonate  of  lime  by  volcanic  heat  or 
heated  water. 

A  phenomenon  which  is  sometimes  found  connected  with 
gas  springs  is  that  of  the  mud  volcanoes,  which  may  be 
described  as  cones  of  a  ductile,  unctuous  clay,  formed  by  the 
continued  evolution  of  a  sulphurous  and  inflammable  gas, 
spurting  up  waves  and  lumps  of  liquid  mud.  These  remark- 
able cauldrons  are  found  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  in  the 
Island  of  Milo,  in  Italy,  in  Iceland,  in  India,  about  120  miles 
from  the  mouths  of  the  Indus,  on  the  coast  of  Arracan,  in 
Birmah,  in  Java,  Columbia,  Nicaragua,  and  Trinidad,  but 
probably  nowhere  on  a  grander  scale  than  at  either  extremity 
of  the  chain  of  the  Caucasus,  towards  the  Caspian  on  the 
east  and  the  Sea  of  Azof  on  the  west,  where  in  the  peninsula 
of  Taman,  and  on  the  opposite  coast  of  the  Crimea,  near 
Kertsch,  vast  numbers  of  mud  volcanoes  are  scattered,  some 
of  them  250  feet  high.  Their  operations  have  apparently 
been  going  on  for  countless  ages,  and  have  covered  a  great 
extent  of  land  with  their  products. 


94 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


The  Macaluba,  in  Sicily,  which  owes  its  name  to  the 
Arabs,  is  the  mud  volcano  most  anciently  known.  It  is 
mentioned  by  Plato  in  his  '  Phsedon,'  and  has  been  described 
by  Strabo.  It  is  situated  five  miles  to  the  north  of  Girgenti, 
on  a  hill  of  a  conical  shape,  truncated  at  the  top,  and  150 
feet  high.  The  summit  is  a  plain  half  a  mile  round,  and  the 
whole  surface  is  covered  with  thick  mud.  The  depth  of  the 
mud,  which  is  supposed  to  be  immense,  is  unknown.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  vegetation  upon  it.  In  the 
rainy  season  the  mud  is  much  softened ;  the  surface  is  even, 
and  there  is  a  general  ebullition  over  it,  which  is  accom- 


ML'D  VOLCANOES  OF  TRINIDAD. 


panied  with  a  very  sensible  rumbling  noise.  In  the  dry 
season  the  mud  acquires  greater  consistency,  but  its  motion 
still  goes  on.  The  plain  assumes  a  form  somewhat  convex ; 
a  number  of  little  cones  are  thrown  up,  which  rarely  rise  to 
the  height  of  two  feet.  Each  of  them  has  a  crater,  where 
black  mud  is  seen  in  constant  agitation,  and  incessantly 
emitting  bubbles  of  air.  With  these  the  mud  insensibly 
rises,  and  as  soon  as  the  crater  is  full  of  it,  it  disgorges. 
The  residue  sinks,  and  the  cone  has  a  free  crater,  until  a  new 
emission  takes  place. 

Such  is  the  ordinary  state  of  the  Macaluba;    but  from 


ORIGIN   OF   MUD   VOLCANOES.  95 

time  to  time  the  hill  becomes  subject  to  alarming  convul- 
sions. Slight  earthquake  shocks  are  felt  at  the  distance  of 
two  or  three  miles,  accompanied  with  internal  noises  re- 
sembling thunder.  These  increase  for  several  days,  and  are 
followed  at  last  by  a  prodigious  spout  of  mud,  earth,  and 
stones,  which  rises  two  or  three  hundred  feet  in  the  air. 

Similar  paroxysmal  explosions  have  been  observed  in  the 
Caucasian  mud  volcanoes.  In  February  1794,  the  Obu,  in 
the  peninsula  of  Taman,  had  an  eruption  accompanied  with 
a  dreadful  noise,  and  an  earthquake  which  radiated  from 
the  cone,  and  was  felt  as  far  as  Ekaterinodor,  at  a  distance 
of  fifty-five  leagues.  At  the  beginning  of  the  eruption 
flames  were  seen,  which  rose  to  a  prodigious  height,  and 
lasted  about  half  an  hour.  At  the  same  time  dense  clouds 
of  smoke  escaped  from  the  crater,  and  mud  and  stones  were 
cast  up  to  the  height  of  3,000  feet.  Six  streams  of  mud, 
the  largest  of  which  was  half  a  mile  long,  flowed  from  the 
volcano,  and  their  volume  is  said  to  have  been  equal  to 
twenty -two  millions  of  cubic  feet. 

Violent  eruptive  symptoms  accompanied  the  formation  of 
a  new  mud  volcano  in  the  vicinity  of  Baku  on  the  Caspian. 
On  November  27,  1827,  flames  blazed  up  to  an  extraordinary 
height  for  three  hours,  and  continued  for  twenty  hours  more 
to  rise  about  three  feet  above  a  crater  from  which  mud  was 
ejected.  At  another  point  in  the  same  district,  where  flames 
issued,  fragments  of  rock,  of  large  size,  were  hurled  up  into 
the  air  and  scattered  around. 

The  phenomena  exhibited  by  the  Macaluba  and  other  mud 
cauldrons  are  certainly  very  distinct  from  those  of  true  vol- 
canoes, since  no  scorise  or  lava  or  heated  matters  of  any  kind 
are  sent  forth,  the  mud  being  described  as  cold  when 
emitted,  although  the  gas,  whose  violent  escape  throws  it  up, 
is  sometimes  ignited.  Hence  geologists  commonly  regard 
these  phenomena  as  entirely  distinct  from  the  volcanic,  and 
ascribe  their  origin  to  chemical  action  going  on  at  no  great 
depth  beneath  the  surface,  among  the  constituents  of  certain 
stratified  matters  ;  while  other  scientific  authorities  declare 
them  to  be  as  much  connected  with  internal  igneous  agency 
as  any  other  eruptive  phenomena.     Their  occurrence  in  dis- 


96  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

tricts  not  remote  from  the  sites  of  vast  volcanic  disturbance, 
and  their  occasional  violent  paroxysms,  certainly  afford  much 
support  to  this  view,  and  show  that  it  is  probably  the  same 
power,  in  different  degrees  of  energy,  which  casts  up  the 
mud  of  the  Macaluba  and  pours  forth  the  lava-streams  of 
Cotopaxi. 


97 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EARTHQUAKES. 

Extent  of  Misery  inflicted  by  great  Earthquakes — Earthquake  Eegions — Earth- 
quakes in  England — Great  Number  of  Earthquakes — Vertical  and  undulatory 
Shocks — Warnings  of  Earthquakes— Sounds  attending  Earthquakes — Remark- 
able Displacements  of  Objects — Extent  and  Force  of  Seismic  Wave  Motion — ■ 
Effects  of  Earthquakes  on  the  Sea — Enormous  Waves  on  Coasts — Oscillations  of 
the  Ocean — Fissures,  Landslips,  and  shattering  Falls  of  Rock  caused  by  Earth- 
quakes —Causes  of  Earthquakes — Probable  Depth  of  Focus — Opinions  of  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  and  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope— Impressions  produced  on  Man  and 
Animals  by  Earthquakes. 

OF  all  the  destructive  agencies  of  nature  there  is  none  to 
equal  the  earthquake.  The  hurricane  is  comparatively 
weak  in  its  fury  ;  the  volcanic  eruption  generally  confines  its 
rage  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  labouring  mountain,  but 
a  great  earthquake  may  cover  a  whole  land  with  ruins. 

The  terrible  subterranean  revolution  which  convulsed  all 
Asia  Minor  and  Syria  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  destroyed 
twelve  celebrated  cities  in  a  single  night.  The  sun,  which  on 
setting  had  gilded  their  temples  and  palaces  with  his  parting 
rays,  beheld  them  prostrate  on  the  following  morning. 

In  a.d.  115  Antioch  was  the  centre  of  a  great  commotion. 
The  city  was  full  of  soldiers  under  Trajan ;  heavy  thunder, 
excessive  winds,  and  subterranean  noises  were  heard ;  the 
earth  shook,  the  houses  fell ;  the  cries  of  people  buried  in 
the  ruins  passed  unheeded.  The  Emperor  leaped  from  a 
window,  while  mountains  were  broken  and  thrown  down, 
and  rivers  disappeared,  and  were  replaced  by  others  in  a  new 
situation.  Tour  centuries  later  (May  20,  526)  the  same 
doomed  city  was  totally  subverted  by  an  earthquake,  when 
it  is  reported  that  250,000  persons  perished. 

Similar  catastrophes,  in  which  thousands  and  thousands  of 
victims  were  suddenly  destroyed,  have  frequently  occurred  in 


98  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Peru  and  Chili,  in  the  West  Indies  and  Central  America,  in 
the  Moluccas  and  Java,  in  the  countries  bordering  on  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Eed  Sea ;  but  a  bare  mention  of  the 
loss  of  life  conveys  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  extent  of  misery 
inflicted  by  one  of  those  great  earthquakes  which  mark  with 
an  ominous  shade  many  large  tracts  of  the  earth's  surface. 

We  must  picture  to  ourselves  the  slow  lingering  death 
which  is  the  fate  of  many — some  buried  alive,  others  burnt 
in  the  fire  which  almost  invariably  bursts  out  in  a  city  where 
hundreds  of  dwellings  have  suddenly  been  laid  prostrate — 
the  numbers  who  escaped  with  loss  of  limbs  or  serious  bodily 
injuries,  and  the  surviving  multitude,  suddenly  reduced  to 
penury  and  want. 

In  the  Calabrian  earthquake  of  1783,  it  is  supposed  that 
about  a  fourth  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Polistena  and  of 
some  other  towns  were  buried  alive,  and  might  have  been 
saved  had  there  been  no  want  of  hands  ;  but  in  so  general 
a  calamity,  where  each  was  occupied  with  his  own  misfor- 
tunes or  those  of  his  family,  help  could  seldom  be  procured. 
6  It  frequently  happened,'  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  '  that  persons 
in  search  of  those  most  dear  to  them  could  hear  their  moans, 
could  recognise  their  voices,  were  certain  of  the  exact  spot 
where  they  lay  buried  beneath  their  feet,  yet  could  afford 
them  no  succour.  The  piled  mass  resisted  all  their  strength, 
and  rendered  their  efforts  of  no  avail.  At  Terranuova  four 
Augustin  monks,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  a  vaulted  sacristy, 
the  arch  of  which  continued  to  support  a  vast  pile  of  ruins, 
made  their  cries  heard  for  the  space  of  four  days.  One  only 
of  the  brethren  of  the  whole  convent  was  saved,  and  of  what 
avail  was  his  strength  to  remove  the  enormous  weight  of 
rubbish  which  had  overwhelmed  his  companions  ?  He  heard 
their  voices  die  away  gradually,  and  when  afterwards  their 
four  corpses  were  disinterred,  they  were  found  clasped  in  each 
other's  arms. 

Affecting  narratives  are  preserved  of  mothers  saved  after 
the  fifth,  sixth,  and  even  seventh  day  of  their  interment, 
when  their  infants  or  children  had  perished  with  hunger. 
In  his  work  on  the  great  Neapolitan  earthquake  of  1857,  Mr. 
Mallet,  from  innumerable  narratives  of  personal  peril  and 
sad  adventure,  selects  the  distressing  case  of  a'  noble  family 


MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   EARTHQUAKES.  99 

of  Monte  Murro,  as  affording  a  vivid  picture  of  the  terrors  of 
an  earthquake  night.  Don  Andrea  del  Fino,  the  owner  of 
one  of  the  few  houses  in  the  city  which  escaped  total  de- 
struction, was  with  his  wife  in  bed,  his  daughter  sleeping  in 
an  adjacent  chamber  on  the  principal  floor.  At  the  first 
shock  his  wife,  who  was  awake,  leaped  from  bed,  and  imme- 
diately after,  a  mass  of  the  vaulting  above  came  down,  and 
buried  her  sleeping  husband.  At  the  same  moment,  the 
vault  above  their  daughter's  room  fell  in  upon  her.  From  the 
light  and  hollow  construction  of  the  vaults  neither  was  at 
once  killed.  The  signora  escaped  by  leaping  from  the  front 
window,  she  scarcely  knew  how.  For  more  than  two  hours 
she  wandered,  unnoticed,  amongst  the  mass  of  terrified  sur- 
vivors in  the  streets,  before  she  could  obtain  aid  from  her 
own  tenants  and  dependants,  to  extricate  her  husband. 
They  got  him  out  after  more  than  eighteen  hours'  en- 
tombment— alive,  indeed,  but  maimed  and  lame  for  life. 
His  daughter  was  dead.  As  he  lay  longing  despairingly  for 
release  from  the  rubbish,  which  a  second  shock,  an  hour 
after  the  first,  had  so  shaken  and  closed  in  around  him  that 
he  could  scarcely  breathe,  he  heard,  but  a  few  feet  off,  her 
agonising  cries  and  groans  grow  fainter  and  fainter,  until  at 
last  they  died  away.  His  wTife,  to  whose  devotion  his  own 
life  was  owing,  had  escaped  unhurt. 

Unfortunately  man  too  often  vies  with  the  brute  forces  of 
nature  to  increase  the  horrors  of  a  great  earthquake.  As 
the  arm  of  the  law  is  paralysed  by  the  general  panic,  thieves 
and  ruffians  are  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  their  oppor- 
tunity. Thus  in  the  Calabrian  catastrophe  of  1783,  nothing 
could  be  more  atrocious  than  the  conduct  of  the  peasants, 
who  abandoned  the  farms  and  flocked  in  great  numbers  into 
the  towns — not  to  rescue  their  countrymen  from  a  lingering 
death,  but  to  plunder.  They  dashed  through  the  streets 
amid  tottering  walls  and  clouds  of  dust,  trampling  beneath 
their  feet  the  bodies  of  the  wounded  and  half  buried,  and 
often  stripping  them,  while  yet  living,  of  their  clothes. 

From  the  vast  ruin  and  misery  they  entail,  it  is  evident 
that  where  earthquakes  are  frequent,  there  can  never  be 
perfect  security  of  property  even  under  the  best  government ; 
and  as  the  fruits  collected  by  the  labour  of  many  years  may 

a  2 


103  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

be  lost  in  an  instant,  the  progress  of  civilisation  and  national 
wealth  mnst  necessarily  be  retarded. 

'  Earthquakes  alone,'  says  Mr.  Darwin,  '  are  sufficient  to 
destroy  the  prosperity  of  any  country.  If  beneath  England 
the  now  inert  subterranean  forces  should  exert  those  powers 
which  most  assuredly  in  former  geological  ages  they  have 
exerted,  how  completely  would  the  entire  condition  of  the 
land  be  changed  !  What  would  become  of  the  lofty  houses, 
thickly  packed  cities,  great  manufactories,  the  beautiful 
public  and  private  edifices  P  If  the  new  period  of  disturbance 
were  first  to  commence  by  some  great  earthquake  in  the  dead 
of  the  night,  how  terrific  would  be  the  carnage  !  England 
would  at  once  be  bankrupt ;  all  papers,  records,  and  accounts 
would  from  that  moment  be  lost.  Government,  being  unable 
to  collect  the  taxes,  and  failing  to  maintain  its  authority,  the 
hand  of  violence  and  rapine  would  remain  uncontrolled.  In 
every  large  town  famine  would  go  forth,  pestilence  and  death 
following  in  its  train.' 

Fortunately  the  experience  of  many  ages  shows  that  the 
regions  subject  to  these  terrible  catastrophes  are  confined 
to  a  comparatively  small  part  of  the  surface  of  the  globe. 
Thus  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily ;  the  tract  embracing  the 
Canaries,  the  Azores,  Portugal,  and  Morocco ;  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  and  the  Caucasus  ;  the  Arabian  shore  of  the  Red  Sea ; 
the  East  Indian  Archipelago  ;  the  West  Indies,  Nicaragua, 
Quito,  Peru,  and  Chili,  are  particularly  liable  to  destructive 
shocks. 

But  beyond  these  limits  slighter  earthquakes  are  of  far 
more  common  occurrence  than  is  generally  supposed,  and 
probably  they  leave  no  part  of  the  world  entirely  undisturbed. 
From  the  year  1821  to  1830  no  less  than  115  earthquakes 
have  been  felt  to  the  north  of  the  Alps,  and  since  the  year 
1089,  225  are  cited  in  the  annals  of  England.  Some  of 
these  earthquakes  seem  to  have  but  just  stopped  at  the  point 
when  a  slight  increase  of  their  force  would  have  covered  the 
land  with  ruins.  In  1574,  on  the  26th  of  February,  between 
five  and  six  in  the  evening,  an  earthquake  was  felt  at  York, 
Worcester,  Hereford,  Gloucester,  and  Bristol.  Norton  Chapel 
was  filled  with  worshippers  ;  they  were  nearly  all  overthrown, 
and  fled  in  terror,  thinking  that  the  dead  were  unearthed  or 


DURATION   OF  EARTHQUAKES.  101 

that  the  chapel  was  falling.  Six  years  later,  on  the  6th  of 
April,  at  6  p.m.,  all  England  was  thrown  into  consternation. 
The  great  bell  at  Westminster,  began  to  toll ;  the  students 
at  the  Temple  started  up  from  table  and  rushed  into  the 
street,  knives  in  hand;  a  part  of  the  Temple  Church  fell, 
and  stones  dropped  from  St.  Paul's.  Two  stones  fell  in 
Christ's  Church,  and  crushed  two  persons.  In  rushing  out 
of  the  church  many  were  lamed,  and  there  was  a  shower 
of  chimneys  in  the  streets.  At  Sandwich,  the  occurrence 
was  marked  by  the  violence  of  the  sea,  which  made  ships 
run  foul  of  each  other ;  and  at  Dover  a  part  of  the  fortifica- 
tions fell  with  the  rock  which  supported  it. 

On  the  6th  October  1863,  a  movement,  though  gentle 
when  compared  to  the  preceding  instances,  was  felt  from 
the  English  Channel  to  the  Mersey,  and  from  Hereford  to 
Leamington  and  Oxford.  The  Malvern  range  was  about  the 
centre  of  the  area,  as  it  has  often  been  before.  Even  in 
alluvial  Holland,  six  or  eight  slight  earthquakes  have  been 
felt  during  the  last  century.  The  industrious  researches  of 
Kluge  show  that,  during  the  eight  years  from  1850  to  1857, 
no  less  than  4,620  earthquakes — a  great  proportion  of  which 
(509)  fell  to  the  share  of  Southern  Europe — have  been  noticed 
in  both  hemispheres  ;  and  when  we  remember  that  a  very 
considerable  part  of  the  globe  is  still  either  totally  unknown 
or  removed  by  the  barbarous  condition  of  its  inhabitants 
from  all  intercourse  with  the  scientific  world,  and  that,  con- 
sequently, the  above  list  must  necessarily  be  incomplete,  it  is 
very  probable  that  not  a  day  passes  without  some  agitation 
of  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  some  place  or  other. 

A  violent  earthquake  almost  always  consists  of  several 
shocks  following  each  other  in  rapid  succession.  Sometimes 
they  are  preceded  by  slighter  vibrations  ;  at  other  times  they 
suddenly  convulse  the  land  without  any  previous  notice. 
In  most  instances,  each  shock  lasts  but  a  few  seconds  ;  but  this 
is  enough  to  ruin  the  work  of  ages.  Three  violent  com- 
motions within  five  minutes  destroyed  the  town  of  Caraccas 
on  March  26,  1812;  and  the  earthquake  which,  in  1692, 
desolated  Jamaica  lasted  but  three  minutes.  On  January  11, 
1839,  two  shocks  within  thirty  seconds  covered  Marti- 
nique, and  the  whole  range  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  with  ruins. 


102  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

But  a  violent  earthquake,  though  itself  but  of  short  duration, 
is  generally  followed  by  a  series  of  secondary  shocks,  which 
are  repeated  at  gradually  widening  intervals  and  with  de- 
creasing energy,  so  that  if  these  subsequent  tremors  be 
taken  into  account,  it  may  often  be  said  to  last  for  weeks,  or 
even  .months.  Thus,  to  cite  but  one  instance,  the  earthquake 
of  October  21,  1766,  destroyed  the  whole  town  of  Cumana  in 
a  few  minutes,  but  during  the  following  fourteen  months  the 
earth  was  in  a  constant  vibratory  motion,  and  scarce  an  hour 
passed  without  a  shock  being  felt. 

In  countries  where  earthquakes  are  comparatively  rare 
(for  instance  in  the  south  of  Europe)  the  belief  is  very 
general  that  oppressive  heat,  stillness  of  the  air,  and  a  misty 
horizon  are  always  forerunners  of  the  phenomenon.  But  this 
popular  opinion  is  not  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  trust- 
worthy observers,  who  have  lived  for  years  in  countries  such 
as  Cumana,  Quito,  Peru,  and  Chili,  where  the  ground 
trembles  frequently  and  violently.  Humboldt  experienced 
earthquakes  during  every  state  of  the  weather,  serene  and 
dry,  rainy  and  stormy. 

Brute  animals,  being  more  sensitive  than  men  of  the 
slightest  movement  of  the  earth,  are  said  to  evince  extra- 
ordinary alarm,  and  it  has  been  often  observed  that  even  the 
dull  hog  shows  symptoms  of  uneasiness  previous  to  the 
shock.  During  the  great  Neapolitan  earthquake  of  1857 
an  unusual  halo-like  light  was  seen  in  the  sky  before,  and 
not  long  before,  the  shock.  Mr.  Mallet  was  at  first  inclined 
to  look  upon  this  notion  as  a  superstitious  tale  ;  but,  finding 
it  widely  diffused  in  a  country  where  communication  is  bad 
and  news  travels  slowly,  no  longer  doubted  that  it  was 
founded  on  fact.*  Conjectures  would  be  useless  as  to  its 
nature,  but  future  observation  directed  to  the  point  may 
determine  whether  some  sort  of  auroral  light  may  emanate 
from  the  vast  depths  of  rock  formation  under  the  enormous 
tensions  and  compressions  that  must  precede  the  final  crash 
and  rupture ;  or  whether  volcanic  action,  going  on  in  the 
unseen  depths  below,  may  give  rise  to  powerful  disturbances 
of  electric  equilibrium,  and  hence  to  the  development  of 

*  Mallet,  «  The  Great  Neapolitan  Earthquake  of  1857,'  vol.  i.  p.  323. 


SOUNDS    IN   EARTHQUAKES.  103 

light;  just  as  from  volcanic  mountains  in  eruption  light- 
nings continually  flash  from  the  huge  volumes  of  steam  and 
floating  ashes  above  the  crater.  Humboldt  is  also  of  opinion 
that,  though  in  general  the  revolutions  which  take  place 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth  are  not  announced  beforehand 
by  any  meteorological  process,  or  a  peculiar  appearance  of 
the  sky,  it  is  not  improbable  that  during  violent  shocks 
some  change  may  occur  in  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere. 
Thus,  during  the  earthquake  in  the  Piedmontese  valleys 
of  Pelis  and  Clusson,  great  alterations  were  observed  in  the 
electrical  tension  of  the  atmosphere  without  any  appearance 
of  a  thunder-storm. 

Earthquakes  are  generally  attended  with  sounds,  some- 
times like  the  howling  of  a  storm,  or  the  rumbling  of  sub- 
terranean thunder,  at  others  like  the  clashing  of  iron  chains, 
or  as  if  a  number  of  heavily  laden  waggons  were  rolling 
rapidly  over  the  pavement,  or  as  if  enormous  masses  of  glass 
were  suddenly  shivered  to  pieces.  As  solid  bodies  are  excel- 
lent conductors  of  sound  (burnt  clay,  for  instance,  propa- 
gating it  ten  or  twelve  times  more  rapidly  than  the  air),  the 
subterranean  noise  may  be  heard  at  a  vast  distance  from  the 
primary  seat  of  the  earthquake.  In  Caraccas,  in  the  grass- 
plains  of  Calabozo,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Apure,  which 
falls  into  the  Orinoco,  a  dreadful  thunder-like  sound  was 
everywhere  heard  on  April  30,  1812,  without  any  simul- 
taneous trembling  of  the  earth,  at  the  time  when,  at  the 
distance  of  158  geographical  miles,  the  volcano  of  St.  Vin- 
cent, in  the  Lesser  Antilles,  was  pouring  out  of  its  crater  a 
mighty  lava- stream..  This  was,  according  to  distance,  as  if 
an  eruption  of  Vesuvius  were  heard  in  the  north  of  France. 
In  the  year  1 744,  during  the  great  eruption  of  the  volcano 
Cotopaxi,  a  subterranean  noise  like  the  firing  of  cannon  was 
heard  at  Honda  on  the  Magdalena  river.  But  the  crater 
of  Cotopaxi  is  1 7,000  feet  higher  than  Honda,  and  both 
points,  situated  at  a  distance  of  109  geographical  miles,  are 
moreover  separated  by  the  colossal  mountain  masses  of 
Quito,  Pasto,  and  Popa}ran,  and  by  numberless  ravines  and 
deep  valleys.  The  sound  was  certainly  transmitted,  not 
through  the  air,  but  through  the  earth,  and  must  have  pro- 
ceeded from  a  very  considerable  depth. 


104  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

But  noise  is  not  the  necessary  attendant  of  an  earthquake, 
for  many  instances  are  known  in  which  the  most  violent 
shocks  have  been  completely  noiseless.  No  subterranean 
sounds  were  heard  during  the  terrific  earthquake  which  de- 
stroyed Riobamba  on  February  4, 1797,  and  the  same  circum- 
stance is  mentioned  in  the  narratives  of  many  of  the  Chilian 
earthquakes. 

The  phenomenon  of  sound,  when  unaccompanied  by  any 
perceptible  vibration,  makes  a  peculiarly  deep  impression  on 
the  mind,  even  of  those  who  have  long  inhabited  a  country 
subject  to  frequent  earthquakes.  They  tremble  at  the  idea 
of  the  catastrophe  which  may  follow.  A  remarkable  instance 
of  a  long  protracted  noise  without  any  trembling  of  the  earth 
occurred  in  1784,  at  the  wealthy  mining  town  of  Guanaxuato 
in  Mexico,  where  the  rolling  of  subterranean  thunder,  with 
now  and  then  a  louder  crash,  was  heard  for  more  than  a 
month,  without  the  slightest  shock,  either  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  or  in  the  neighbouring  silver  mines,  which  are 
1,500  feet  deep.  The  noise  was  confined  to  a  small  space,  so 
that  a  few  miles  from  the  town  it  was  no  longer  audible. 
Never  before  had  this  phenomenon  been  known  to  occur 
in  the  Mexican  highlands,  nor  has  it  been  repeated 
since. 

Earthquake  shocks  are  either  vertical  or  undulatory.  A 
vertical  shock,  which  is  felt  immediately  above  the  seat  or 
focus  of  the  subterranean  disturbance,  causes  a  movement  up 
and  down.  Like  an  exploding  mine,  it  frequently  jerks 
movable  bodies  high  up  into  the  air.  Thus,  during  the 
great  earthquake  of  Riobamba,  the  bodies  of  many  of  the 
inhabitants  were  thrown  upon  the  hill  of  La  Culla,  which 
rises  to  the  height  of  several  hundred  feet  at  the  other  side 
of  the  Lican  torrent ;  and  during  the  earthquake  of  Chili  in 
1837,  a  large  mast,  planted  thirty  feet  deep  in  the  ground  at 
Fort  San  Carlos,  and  propped  with  iron  bars,  was  thrown 
upwards,  so  that  a  round  hole  remained  behind. 

Although  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  shaken  district  the 
undulatory  wave  or  vibration  of  an  earthquake  appears  to 
radiate  horizontally  outwards  from  the  spot  on  the  surface 
where  it  is  first  felt,  the  force  does  not  really  operate  in  a 
horizontal  direction,  like  a  wave  caused  by  a  pebble  on  the 


WAVE-MOTION  ■  OF    EARTHQUAKES.  105 

surface  of  a  pond  ;  for  at  every  point,  except  that  immediately 
above  the  focus  of  the  shock,  it  comes  up  obliquely  from 
below,  causing  the  ground  to  move  forwards  and  then  back- 
wards in  a  more  or  less  horizontal  direction.  As  a  ship, 
yielding  to  the  oscillatory  movements  of  the  waves,  alter- 
nately inclines  to  one  side  or  the  other,  so,  during  the  more 
violent  undulations  of  the  soil,  the  objects  on  its  surface  are 
momentarily  moved  from  their  vertical  position,  and  often 
considerably  inclined  towards  the  horizon.  Thus  during  the 
great  earthquake  which  convulsed  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sipi  in  1811-12,  Mr.  Bringier,  an  engineer  of  New  Orleans, 
who  was  on  horseback  near  New  Madrid,  where  some  of  the 
severest  shocks  were  experienced,  saw  the  trees  bend  as  the 
wave-motion  of  the  earthquake  passed  under  them,  and 
immediately  afterwards  recover  their  position.  The  transit 
of  the  wave  through  the  woods  was  marked  by  the  crash  of 
countless  branches,  first  heard  on  one  side  and  then  on  the 
other.  It  must  have  been  awful  to  see  the  giants  of  the 
forest  thus  move  to  and  fro  like  a  corn-field  agitated  by  the 
wind! 

Very  remarkable  displacements  of  objects  are  not  seldom 
caused  by  earthquakes,  such  as  the  rotation  of  the  blocks  of 
columns  or  the  turning  of  statues  on  their  pedestals. 

At  Lima,  which,  owing  to  its  repeated  destructions  by 
earthquakes,  is  properly  a  city  of  ruins,  Professor  Dana  saw 
two  obelisks  with  the  upper  stone  on  each  displaced  and 
turned  round  on  its  axis  about  fifteen  degrees  in  a  direction 
from  north  to  east.  These  rotations  by  earthquakes  have 
been  attributed  by  some  authors  to  an  actual  rotatory 
movement  in  the  earthquake  vibration;  but  it  has  lately 
been  shown  by  Mr.  Mallet  that  this  hypothesis  is  untenable 
and  unnecessary,  as  a  simple  vibration  back  and  forth  is  all 
that  is  required  to  produce  a  rotatory  motion  in  the  stone  of 
a  column,  provided  that  stone  be  attached  below  more 
strongly  on  one  side  of  the  centre  than  on  the  opposite. 

The  wave-motion  of  an  earthquake  sometimes  spreads  over 
enormous  spaces.  The  shocks  of  the  earthquake  of  New 
Granada  which  took  place  in  the  night  from  the  16th  to 
the  17th  of  June  1826,  were  noticed  over  a  surface  of  750,000 
square   miles.     The  earthquake  of  Valdivia  (February  20, 


106  THE   SUBTERRAXEAN   WORLD. 

1835)  was  felt  southwards  on  the  distant  island  of  Chiloe 
to  the  north  as  far  as  Copiapo,  in  Mendoza  to  the  east  of 
the  Andes,  and  on  the  Island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  300  miles 
from  the  coast.  Supposing  these  effects  to  have  taken 
place  at  corresponding  distances  in  Europe,  all  the  land 
would  have  trembled  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  from  Ireland  to  the  centre  of  France. 

It  is  evident  that  the  extent  and  force  of  the  wave-motion 
of  an  earthquake  must  in  a  great  measure  depend  upon  the 
nature  of  the  rocks  through  which  it  is  transmitted.  •  It  will 
vibrate  more  easily  through  solid  homogeneous  masses,  while 
in  alluvial  deposits,  or  in  a  soil  composed  of  sand  and  loose 
conglomerate,  its  undulations  will  be  propagated  irregularly 
and  its  effects  be  far  more  destructive.  This  is  particularly 
the  case  where  the  alluvial  deposits  repose  on  a  substratum 
of  hard  rock.  Thus  the  devastations  of  the  Calabrian  earth- 
quake of  1783  were  most  apparent  in  the  plain  of  Oppido,  in 
those  parts  where  the  newer  tertiary  strata  rest  upon  granite. 
The  earthquake  wave  generally  follows  the  direction  of 
mountain-chains,  and  but  rarely  crosses  them.  The  great 
Chilian  earthquakes,  which  often  propagate  their  vibrations 
to  distances  of  many  hundred  miles  along  the  western  foot 
of  the  Andes,  remain  unfelt  on  their  eastern  border  ;  while 
the  earthquakes  along  the  shores  of  Venezuela,  Caraccas, 
and  New  Granada  rarely  transmit  their  vibrations  beyond 
the  high  mountain-chains  which  run  parallel  with  the  coast. 
This  is  probably  due  to  the  numerous  dislocations,  rents, 
and  caverns  which  are  produced  by  the  elevation  of  the 
mountain- chains,  and  necessarily  serve  as  barriers  to  the 
propagation  of  the  earthquake  wave. 

Severe  earthquakes  are  not  seldom  accompanied  by  a 
violent  agitation  of  the  sea.  First,  at  the  instant  of  the 
shock,  the  water  swells  high  up  on  the  beach  with  a  gentle 
motion,  and  then  as  quietly  recedes;  secondly,  some  time 
afterwards,  the  whole  body  of  the  sea  retires  from  the  coast, 
and  then  returns  in  waves  of  overwhelming  force.  The  first 
movement  seems  to  be  an  immediate  consequence  of  the 
earthquake  affecting  differently  a  fluid  and  a  solid,  so  that 
their  respective  levels  are  slightly  deranged  ;  but  the  second 
is  a  far  more  important  phenomenon.     '  Some  authors,'  says 


MOVEMENTS    OF    THE    SEA    IN    EARTHQUAKES.  107 

Mr.  Darwin,  <  have  attempted  to  explain  it  by  supposing  that 
the  sea  retains  its  level,  while  the  land  oscillates  upwards ; 
but  surely  the  water  close  to  the  land,  even  on  a  rather  steep 
coast,  would  partake  of  the  motion  of  the  bottom;  more- 
over, similar  movements  of  the  sea  have  occurred  at  islands 
far  distant  from  the  chief  line  of  disturbance.  I  suspect 
(but  the  subject  is  a  very  obscure  one)  that  a  wave,  however 
produced,  first  draws  the  water  from  the  shore  on  which  it  is 
advancing  to  break.  I  have  observed  that  this  happens  with 
the  little  waves  from  the  paddles  of  a  steamboat.  From  the 
great  wave  not  immediately  following  the  earthquake,  but 
sometimes  after  the  interval  of  even  half-an-hour,  and  from 
distant  islands  being  affected  similarly  with  the  coasts  near 
the  focus  of  the  disturbance,  it  appears  that  the  wave  first 
rises  in  the  offing,  and,  as  this  is  of  general  occurrence,  the 
cause  must  be  general.  I  suspect  we  must  look  to  the  line 
where  the  less  disturbed  waters  of  the  deep  ocean  join  the 
water  nearer  the  coast  which  has  partaken  of  the  movements 
of  the  land,  as  the  place  where  the  great  wave  is  first 
generated ;  it  would  also  appear  that  the  wave  is  larger  or 
smaller  according  to  the  extent  of  shoal  water  which  has 
been  agitated  together  with  the  bottom  on  which  it  rested.' 

The  following  examples  sufficiently  prove  that  no  storm, 
however  violent,  is  capable  of  raising  such  prodigious  waves 
as  an  earthquake. 

In  the  year  1692  the  town  of  Kingston  in  Jamaica  was 
almost  totally  destroyed  by  a  huge  earthquake  wave.  A 
frigate  which  lay  in  port  was  carried  forwards  over  the  houses 
and  stranded  in  the  middle  of  the  town.  In  his  'Principles 
of  Geology,'  Sir  Charles  Lyell  relates  that,  during  the  Cala- 
brian  earthquake  of  1783  the  Prince  of  Scilla  had  persuaded 
a  great  part  of  his  vassals  to  betake  themselves  to  their 
fishing  boats  for  safety,  and  he  himself  had  gone  on  board. 
On  the  night  of  February  5,  when  some  of  the  people  were 
sleeping  in  the  boats,  and  others  on  a  level  plain  slightly 
elevated  above  the  sea,  the  earth  rocked  and  large  masses  of 
rock  were  thrown  down  with  a  dreadful  crash  upon  the  plain. 
Immediately  afterwards  the  sea,  rising  more  than  twenty 
feet  above  the  level  of  this  low  tract,  rolled  foaming  over  it 
and  swept  away  the  multitude.     It  then  retreated,  but  soon 


108  THE    SUBTERRANEAN"    WORLD. 

rushed  back  again  with  greater  violence,  bringing  back  with 
it  some  of  the  bodies  it  had  carried  away.  At  the  same  time 
every  boat  was  sunk  or  dashed  against  the  beach,  and  some 
of  them  were  swept  far  inland.  The  aged  prince  was  killed, 
with  1,430  of  his  people. 

After  the  earthquake  which  devastated  the  town  of  Lima 
on  the  28th  of  October  1746,  the  sea  rose  on  the  evening 
of  the  same  day  eighty  feet  above  its  usual  level  in  the 
neighbouring  Bay  of  Callao,  overwhelmed  the  town,  and 
destroyed  nearly  all  the  inhabitants.  Of  the  twenty- three 
ships  which  were  lying  in  the  harbour  at  the  time,  nineteen 
immediately  sank,  while  the  four  others  were  thrown  upon 
the  land  at  the  distance  of  nearly  a  league. 

Shortly  after  the  shock  which  desolated  Chili  on  the  20th  of 
February  1835,  a  great  wave  was  seen  from  the  distance  of 
three  or  four  miles,  approaching  in  the  middle  of  the  Bay  of 
Talcahuano  with  a  smooth  outline,  but  tearing  up  cottages  and 
trees  along  the  shore,  as  it  swept  onwards  with  irresistible 
force.  At  the  head  of  the  bay  it  broke  in  a  fearful  line  of 
white  breakers,  which  rushed  up  to  a  height  of  twenty-three 
vertical  feet  above  the  highest  spring  tides.  Their  force  must 
have  been  prodigious,  for  at  the  Fort  a  cannon  with  its 
carriage,  estimated  at  four  tons  in  weight,  was  moved  fifteen 
feet  inwards.  The  w\hole  coast  was  strewed  over  with  timber 
and  furniture,  as  if  a  thousand  ships  had  been  wrecked.  As 
Mr.  Darwin  walked  along  the  shore,  he  observed  that  nume- 
rous fragments  of  rock,  which,  from  the  marine  productions 
adhering  to  them,  must  recently  have  been  lying  in  deep 
water,  had  been  cast  up  high  on  the  beach.  One  of  these 
was  six  feet  long,  three  broad,  and  two  thick. 

During  the  dreadful  earthquake  which  in  1868  raised  the 
strip  of  land  at  the  western  foot  of  the  Andes  from  Iburra 
in  Ecuador,  to  Iquique  in  Peru,  1,200  miles  in  length,  the 
receding  sea  uncovered  the  bay  at  Iquique  to  the  depth  of  four 
fathoms,  and  then,  returning  in  an  immense  wave,  a  mass  of 
dark  blue  water,  forty  feet  high,  rushed  over  the  already 
ruined  city,  and  swept  away  every  trace  of  what  had  been  a 
town.  One  spectator,  seeing  the  whole  surface  of  the  sea  rise 
like  a  mountain,  ran  for  his  life  to  the  Pampa.  The  waves  over- 
took him.     Fighting  with  the  dark  water,  amidst  wreck  and 


MOTION    OF    EARTHQUAKE    WAVES.  109 

ruin  of  every  kind,  carried  back  into  the  bay,  and  again  thrown 
back  to  the  Pampa,  wounded  and  half-naked,  he  crept  for 
safety  into  a  hole  of  the  sand,  and  waited  sadly  for  the 
dawn.  At  Arica,  the  British  Vice-Consul,  alarmed  at  the  first 
shock,  rushed  out  of  the  house  with  his  family,  and  made 
for  the  high  ground,  in  just  terror  of  the  expected  sea- wave. 
Through  the  ruined  town,  amidst  dead  and  dying,  half 
stifled  with  dust,  they  reached  rising  ground,  and,  looking 
back,  saw  a  dreadful  sequel — the  sea  rushed  in  and  left  not 
a  vestage  remaining  of  the  lower  part  of  Arica.  Six  vessels 
were  lost  in  the  bay  or  tossed  over  rocks  and  houses;  an 
American  gunboat  was  whirled  away  from  her  moorings,  and 
laid,  without  a  broken  spar  or  tarnished  flag,  high  and  dry 
on  the  sand-hills,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  sea. 

As  might  be  expected  from  the  movable  nature  of  water, 
the  wave-motion  of  earthquakes  is  frequently  propagated  to 
surprising  distances  over  the  sea.  The  Chilian  earthquake 
of  1835  produced  oscillations  of  the  ocean  that  made  them- 
selves felt  on  the  Sandwich  Islands  at  a  distance  of  5,000 
nautical  miles.  On  Mauai,  the  sea  retreated  120  feet,  and 
then  suddenly  returned  with  a  tremendous  wave  that  swept 
away  the  trees  and  houses  on  the  beach.  In  Hawaii,  a 
large  congregation  had  assembled  for  divine  sendee  near 
Byron's  Bay.  Suddenly  the  water  began  to  sink,  so  that 
soon  a  great  part  of  the  harbour  was  laid  dry.  The  spec- 
tators hurried  to  the  shore  to  admire  the  astonishing 
spectacle,  when  a  wave,  rising  twenty  feet  above  the  usual 
tide-mark,  inundated  the  land,  destroyed  sixty-six  huts,  and 
drowned  eleven  of  the  islanders,  though  the  best  swimmers 
in  the  world.  So  far  from  its  starting-point  did  the  South 
American  earthquake  seek  its  victims.  Fifteen  hours  and 
a  half  after  the  great  earthquake  of  Arica  (1868)  the  water- 
wave  undulating  over  the  vast  Pacific  was  felt  at  Chatham 
Islands,  a  distance  of  6,300  miles,  and  an  hour  later  at  New 
Zealand. 

The  enormous  powers  which  come  into  action  during  a 
great  earthquake  show  themselves  not  only  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  edifices  and  the  wide-spread  ruin  so  produced, 
but  in  the  changes  which  they  effect  in  the  configura- 
tion of  the  soil.      Wherever  masses  of  earth    rest   looseb 


110  THIS   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD, 

upon  a  sloped  surface  of  subjacent  rock,  or  where  steep 
mountain  crests  overlie  wet  and  unctuous  beds  of  shale,  or 
where  the  rock  itself  is  composed  of  coherent  material,  or 
where  river-banks  are  formed  of  precipitous  masses  of  clays, 
or  where  the  corroding  waters  have  undermined  the  ground, 
the  violent  commotion  caused  by  an  earthquake  cannot  fail 
to  produce  landslips,  fissures,  and  falls  of  rock.  In  1571,  on 
the  1 7th  of  February,  the  ground  opened  all  at  once  at  the 
6  Wonder,'  near  Putley,  not  far  from  Marcle  in  Hereford- 
shire ;  and  a  large  part  of  the  sloping  surface  of  the  hill — 
twenty-six  acres,  it  is  said — descended  with  the  trees  and 
sheep-folds,  and  continued  in  motion  from  Saturday  to 
Monday,  masses  of  ground  being  turned  round  through  half 
a  circle  in  their  descent.  This  was  a  great  landslip,  said  to 
have  been  occasioned  by  an  earthquake. 

Earth-fissures  were  formerly  supposed  to  be  occasioned  by 
a  stretching  of  the  ground,  occasioned  by  the  wavy  nature  of 
the  shocks ;  but  Mr.  Mallet  has  shown  that  no  earthquake 
wave  can  possibly  produce  any  such  stretching,  and  con- 
siders them  as  cases  of  small  and  incipient  landslips  caused 
by  the  shaking  downwards  of  a  loose  mass.  His  own  observa- 
tions left  no  doubt  in  his  mind  that  the  descriptions,  given  by 
the  Neapolitan  Academy  in  their  Historical  Account  of  the 
Earthquake  of  1783,  of  the  earth-fissures  therein  produced, 
and  designated  constantly  by  the  pompous  term  '  voragines,' 
are  gross  exaggerations,  and  that  the  well-known  Jamaica 
earth-fissures,  that  were  said  to  have  opened  and  closed  with 
the  wave,  and  to  have  bitten  people  in  two,  must  be  regarded 
as  audacious  fables. 

'  The  vulgar  mind,  filled  from  infancy  with  superstitious 
terrors  as  to  "  the  things  under  the  earth/'  is  seized  at  once 
by  the  notion  of  these  fissures  of  profound  and  fabulous  depth 
with  fire  and  vapour  of  smoke  issuing  from  within  their 
murky  abysses ;  but  they  should  cease  to  belong  to  science.' 

Enormous  landslips  are  sometimes  occasioned  by  earth- 
quakes, but  their  extent  depends  less  upon  the  power  and 
energy  of  the  shock  than  upon  the  conditions  of  unstable 
equilibrium  presented  by  great  masses  of  loose  material, 
through  the  configuration  of  the  country.  In  consequence 
of  landslips  or  dislodgements  of  large  masses  of  rock,  altera- 


CAUSES   OF   EARTHQUAKES.  11  1 

tions  in  the  flow  or  distribution  of  the  waters  frequently 
take  place.  Thus,  brooks  or  rivers  are  not  seldom  dammed, 
and  temporary  ponds  or  lakes  created. 

Permanent  elevations  of  the  land  have  been  observed 
after  some  earthquakes.  Thus,  after  the  violent  shocks  of 
November  19,  1822,  a  great  part  of  the  coast  of  Chili  was 
found  to  be  raised  several  feet  above  its  previous  level,  and 
after  the  great  earthquake  which  occurred  in  New  Zealand 
in  the  night  of  January  23,  1855,  a  large  tract  of  land  was 
found  to  be  permanently  upraised  from  one  to  nine  feet. 
Before  the  shock  there  had  been  no  room  to  pass  between 
the  sea  and  the  base  of  a  perpendicular  cliff  called  Muka- 
Muka,  except  for  a  short  time  at  low  water,  and  the  herds- 
men were  obliged  to  wait  for  low  tide  in  order  to  drive  their 
cattle  past  the  cliff.  But  immediately  after  the  upheaval,  a 
gently  sloping  raised  beach,  more  than  100  feet  wide,  was 
laid  dry,  affording  ample  space  at  all  states  of  the  tide  for 
the  passage  of  man  and  beast. 

These  permanent  elevations  have  often  been  attributed  to 
the  immediate  agency  of  earthquakes ;  but  Mr.  Mallet  proves 
this  assumption  to  be  a  fallacy,  as  the  impulse  of  the  earth- 
quake wave  even  right  above  the  focus  is  utterly  incapable  of 
raising  the  level  of  the  land  by  a  height  much  more  than  in- 
strumentally  appreciable,  and  there  is  not  the  least  evidence 
that  any  part  of  even  this  elevation  is  permanent.  That 
earthquakes  occur  along  with,  and  as  part  of,  a  train  of  other 
circumstances  which  do  produce  permanent  elevation  occasion- 
ally, and  that  earthquakes  are  probably  always  the  signals  that 
the  forces  producing  elevation  are  operative,  is  another 
matter,  with  which  that  erroneous  or  loosely  expressed  view 
should  not  be  confounded. 

The  causes  of  earthquakes  are  still  hidden  in  obscurity,  and 
probably  will  ever  remain  so,  as  these  violent  convulsions 
originate  at  depths  far  below  the  reach  of  human  observation. 
Mr.  Mallet  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  depth  of  the 
original  Calabrian  shock  in  1857  did  not  exceed  seven  or 
eight  miles,  and  deduces  from  all  the  facts  known  as  to  the 
movements  of  earthquakes,  that  the  subterranean  points 
where  the  shocks  originate  perhaps  never  exceed  thirty 
geographical  miles,    so   that,    even    supposing    the    central 


112  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

nucleus  of  the  earth  to  be  fluid,  they  cannot  possibly  be  due 
to  the  reaction  of  the  internal  ocean  of  molten  stone  upon 
the  solid  shell  with  which  it  is  enveloped,  but  must  have 
their  seat  within  the  latter.  The  existence  of  reservoirs  of 
fused  matter  at  various  depths  in  the  solid  earth-rind  is  quite 
sufficient  to  account  for  all  seismic  and  volcanic  phenomena ; 
for  it  is  evident  that  whenever  rain-water,  or  the  waters  of  the 
sea  percolating  through  rocks,  gain  access  to  these  subter- 
ranean lakes  of  molten  stone,  steam  must  be  generated,  the 
pressure  of  which  will  in  many  cases  rend  and  dislocate  the 
incumbent  masses. 

'  During  such  movements,'  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  £  fissures 
may  be  formed  and  injected  with  gaseous  or  fluid  matter, 
which  may  sometimes  fail  to  reach  the  surface,  while  at 
other  times  it  may  be  expelled  through  volcanic  vents,  stufas, 
and  hot  springs.  When  the  strain  on  the  rocks  has  caused 
them  to  split,  or  the  roofs  of  pre-existing  fissures  or  caverns 
have  been  made  to  fall  in,  vibratory  jars  will  be  produced 
and  propagated  in  all  directions,  like  waves  of  sound  through 
the  crust  of  the  earth,  with  varying  velocity,  according  to  the 
violence  of  the  original  shock,  and  the  density  or  elasticity  of 
the  substance  through  which  they  pass.  They  will  travel, 
for  example,  faster  through  granite  than  through  limestone, 
and  more  rapidly  through  the  latter  than  through  wet  clay, 
but  the  rate  will  be  uniform  through  the  same  homogeneous 
medium.' 

According  to  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope,  the  originating  cause  of 
the  earthquake  must  be  sought  in  the  expansion  of  some 
deeply  seated  mass  of  mineral  matter,  owing  to  augmentation 
of  temperature  or  diminution  of  pressure.  By  this  expansive 
force,  the  solid  rocks  above  are  suddenly  rent  asunder,  and 
whether  below  the  sea  or  not,  their  violent  disruption  pro- 
duces a  jarring  vibration,  which  is  propagated  on  either  side 
through  their  continuous  masses  in  undulatory  pulsations. 

Some  geologists  are  of  opinion  that  earthquakes  are  fre- 
quently the  result  of  the  subsiding,  sinking  in,  or  cracking  of 
subterranean  cavern  roofs,  in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of 
the  superincumbent  rocks.  Small  local  earthquakes  may  be 
explained  by  this  theory ;  but  terrible  convulsions  which 
shake  a  whole  continent  evidently  proceed  from  a  far  more 


EARTHQUAKES    IN    PERU.  113 

formidable  cause,  and  are  more  satisfactorily  explained  by 
the  agency  of  subterranean  beat  and  elastic  vapours. 

If,  even  during  an  ordinary  storm,  the  black  clouds,  the 
howling  of  the  wind,  the  flashes  of  lightning,  and  the  loud 
claps  of  thunder  strike  men  and  brutes  with  fear,  we  may 
naturally  expect  to  see  terror  carried  to  its  highest  pitch  by 
so  dreadful  a  phenomenon  as  an  earthquake.  All  creatures 
living  or  burrowing  under  the  earth — rats,  mice,  moles, 
snakes — hastily  creep  forth  from  their  subterranean  abodes, 
though  many  no  doubt  are  gripped  and  suffocated  by  the 
suddenly  moved  soil  before  they  can  effect  their  escape  ;  the 
crocodile,  generally  silent,  like  our  little  lizards,  rushes  out  of 
the  river  and  runs  bellowing  into  the  woods ;  the  hogs  show 
symptoms  of  uneasiness  ;  the  horses  tremble  ;  the  oxen  huddle 
together  ;  and  the  fowls  run  about  with  discordant  cries.  On 
man,  the  phenomenon  makes  a  peculiarly  deep  impression. 

6  A  bad  earthquake,'  says  Mr.  Darwin, c  at  once  destroys  our 
oldest  associations.  The  earth,  the  very  emblem  of  solidity, 
has  moved  beneath  our  feet  like  a  thin  crust  over  a  fluid. 
One  second  of  time  has  created  in  the  mind  a  strange  idea  of 
insecurity,  which  hours  of  reflection  would  not  have  pro- 
duced.' We  can  no  longer  trust  the  soil  on  which  we  stand, 
and  feel  ourselves  completely  at  the  mercy  of  some  unknown 
destructive  power,  which  at  any  moment,  without  forewarn- 
ing, can  destroy  our  property  or  our  lives.  But  as  first 
impressions  are  always  the  deepest,  so  habit  renders  man 
callous  even  to  the  terrors  of  an  ordinary  earthquake. 
In  countries  where  slight  shocks  are  of  frequent  occurrence, 
almost  every  vestige  of  fear  vanishes  from  the  minds  of  the 
natives,  or  of  the  strangers  whom  a  long  residence  has 
familiarised  with  the  phenomenon. 

On  the  rainless  coast  of  Peru,  thunderstorms  and  hail  are 
unknown.  The  thunder  of  the  storm  is  there  replaced  by 
the  thunder  which  accompanies  the  earthquake.  But  the 
frequent  repetition  of  this  subterranean  tumult,  and  the 
general  belief  that  dangerous  shocks  occur  only  twice  or 
thrice  in  the  course  of  a  century,  produce  in  Lima  so  great 
an  indifference  towards  slighter  oscillations  of  the  soil  that 
they  hardly  attract  more  attention  than  a  hail-storm  in 
Northern  Europe. 

i 


114  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    GREAT    EARTHQUAKE    OF    LISBON. 

A  dreadful  All  Saints'  Day — The  Victims  of  a  Minute — Report  of  an  Eye-witness 
— Conflagration — Banditti — Pombal  brings  Order  into  Chaos — Intrigues  of  the 
Jesuits — Damages  caused  by  the  Earthquake  in  other  Places — at  Cadiz — in 
Barbary — Widespread  Alarm — Remarks  of  Goethe  on  the  Earthquake. 

HISTORY  exhibits  few  catastrophes  more  terrible  than 
that  which  was  caused  by  the  great  earthquake  which, 
on  November  1,  1755,  levelled  the  town  of  Lisbon  to  the 
dust.  On  other  occasions,  such  as  that  of  a  siege,  a  famine, 
or  a  plague,  calamity  approaches  by  degrees,  giving  its 
victims  time  to  measure  its  growth,  and  preparing  them,  as 
it  were,  to  sustain  an  increasing  weight  of  misery ;  but  here 
destruction  fell  upon  the  devoted  city  with  the  rapidity  of  a 
flash  of  lightning. 

A  bright  sun  shone  over  Lisbon  on  that  fatal  morning. 
The  weather  was  as  mild  and  beautiful  as  on  a  fine  summer's 
day  in  England,  when,  about  forty  minutes  past  nine,  in  the 
morning,  an  earthquake  shock,  followed  almost  immediately 
by  another  and  another,  brought  down  convents,  churches, 
palaces,  and  houses  in  one  common  ruin,  and,  at  a  very 
moderate  computation,  occasioned  the  loss  of  thirty  thousand 
lives.  '  The  shocking  sight  of  the  dead  bodies,'  says  an  eye- 
witness of  the  scene,  '  together  with  the  shrieks  and  cries  of 
those  who  were  half  buried  in  the  ruins,  exceeds  all  descrip- 
tion ;  for  the  fear  and  consternation  were  so  great  that  the 
most  resolute  person  durst  not  stay  a  moment  to  remove  a 
few  stones  off  the  friend  he  loved  most,  though  many  might 
have  been  saved  by  so  doing ;  but  nothing  was  thought  of 
but  self-preservation.  Getting  into  open  places,  and  into  the 
middle  of  streets,  was  the  most  probable  security.  Such  as 
were  in  the  upper  storeys  of  houses  were,  in  general,  more 


DESTRUCTION    OF    LISBON.  115 

fortunate  than  those  who  attempted  to  escape  by  the  doors ; 
for  they  were  buried  under  the  ruins  with  the  greatest  part 
of  the  foot-passengers ;  such  as  were  in  equipages  escaped 
best,  though  their  cattle  and  drivers  suffered  severely ;  but 
those  lost  in  houses  and  the  streets  are  very  unequal  in 
number  to  those  that  were  buried  in  the  ruins  of  churches  ; 
for  as  it  was  a  day  of  great  devotion,  and  the  time  of  cele- 
brating mass,  all  the  churches  in  the  city  were  vastly  crowded; 
and  the  number  of  churches  here  exceeds  that  of  both 
London  and  Westminster;  and  as  the  steeples  are  built 
high,  they  mostly  fell  with  the  roof  of  the  church,  and  the 
stones  are  so  large  that  few  escaped.'* 

Many  of  those  who  were  not  crushed  or  disabled  by  the 
falling  buildings  fled  to  the  Tagus,  vainly  hoping  that  they 
might  find  there  the  safety  which  they  had  lost  on  land. 
For,  soon  after  the  shock,  the  sea  also  came  rushing  in  like 
a  torrent,  though  against  wind  and  tide,  and  rising  in  an 
enormous  wave,  overflowed  its  banks,  devouring  all  it  met 
on  its  destructive  path.  Many  large  vessels  sank  at  once  ; 
others,  torn  from  their  anchors,  disappeared  in  the  vortex,  or, 
striking  against  each  other,  were  shattered  to  pieces.  A  fine 
new  stone  quay,  where  about  three  thousand  persons  had 
assembled  for  safety,  slipped  into  the  river,  and  every  one 
was  lost ;  nor  did  so  much  as  a  single  body  appear  after- 
wards. 

Had  the  misery  ended  here,  it  might  in  some  degree  have 
admitted  of  redress ;  for,  though  lives  could  not  be  restored, 
yet  a  great  part  of  the  immense  riches  that  were  in  the 
ruins  might  have  been  recovered ;  but  a  new  calamity  soon 
put  an  end  to  such  hopes,  for,  in  about  two  hours  after  the 
shock,  fires  broke  out  in  three  different  parts  of  the  city, 
caused  by  the  goods  and  the  kitchen  fires  being  all  jumbled 
together.  About  this  time  also,  a  fresh  gale  suddenly  spring- 
ing up,  made  the  fire  rage  with  such  violence  that,  at  the 
end  of  three  days,  the  greatest  part  of  the  city  was  reduced 
to  ashes.  What  the  earthquake  had  spared  fell  a  prey  to 
the  fire,  and  the  flames  consumed  thousands  of  mutilated 
victims,  who,  incapable  of  flight,  lay  half-buried  in  the  ruins. 

According  to  a  popular  report,  which,  true  or  not,  shows 

*  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  xlix.  part  i.  p.  404. 
i  2 


116  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  hatred  in  which  the  Holy  Office  was  held,  the  Inquisition 
was  the  first  building  tha/t  fell  down,  and  probably  more  than 
one  inquisitor,  who,  in  his  life-time,  had  sent  scores  of  Jews 
or  heretics  to  the  stake,  was  now,  in  his  turn,  burnt  alive. 

As  if  the  unshackled  elements  were  not  sufficient  agents 
of  destruction,  the  prisons  also  cast  forth  their  lawless 
denizens,  and  a  host  of  malefactors,  rejoicing  in  the  public 
calamity  which  paralysed  the  arm  of  justice,  added  rapine 
and  murder  to  the  miseries  of  the  city. 

More  than  60,000  persons  are  supposed  to  have  perished 
in  Lisbon  from  all  these  various  causes.  The  total  loss  of 
property  was  estimated  at  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  an  enor- 
mous sum  for  a  small  country,  and  in  times  when  money 
was  far  more  valuable  than  at  present.  A  few  shocks  suf- 
ficed to  destroy  the  treasures  accumulated  by  the  savings  of 
many  generations. 

The  royal  family  was  at  this  time  residing  in  the  small 
palace  of  Belem,  about  a  league  out  of  town,  and  thus 
escaped  being  buried  among  the  ruins  of  the  capital — a 
fortunate  occurrence  in  the  midst  of  so  many  misfortunes ; 
for  the  anarchy  that  must  have  ensued. from  the  destruction 
of  all  authority  would  have  filled  the  cup  of  misery  to  the 
brim.  As  it  was,  Government  seemed  utterly  incapable  of 
contending  with  a  disaster  of  such  colossal  proportions. 
e  What  is  to  be  done  ? '  said  the  helpless  king  to  his  minister 
Carvalho,  Marquis  of  Pombal,  who,  on  entering  the  council- 
chamber,  found  his  sovereign  vainly  seeking  for  advice 
among  his  weeping  and  irresolute  courtiers  :  '  how  can  we 
alleviate  the  chastisement  which  Divine  justice  has  imposed 
upon  us  ?  '  '  Sire  !  by  burying  the  dead  and  taking  care  of 
the  living,'  was  the  ready  answer  of  the  great  statesman, 
whose  noble  bearing  and  confident  mien  at  once  restored 
the  king's  courage.  From  that  moment  Jose  bestowed  a 
boundless  confidence  upon  Pombal.  Without  losing  a  single 
moment,  the  minister,  invested  with  full  powers,  threw  him- 
self into  a  carriage,  and  hastened  with  all  speed  to  the  scene 
of  destruction.  Wherever  his  presence  was  most  needed, 
there  was  he  sure  to  be  found.  Tor  several  days  and  nights 
he  never  left  his  carriage,  whence,  incessantly  active  in  his 
efforts  to  reduce  chaos  to  order,  he  issued  no  less  than  two 


EARTHQUAKE    AT   CADIZ.  117 

hundred  decrees,  all  bearing  the  stamp  of  a  master-mind. 
Troops  from  the  provinces  were  summoned  in  all  haste,  and 
concentrated  round  the  capital,  which  no  one  was  allowed  to 
leave  without  permission,  so  that  the  robbers,  who  had  en- 
riched themselves  with  the  plunder  of  palaces  and  churches, 
were  unable  to  escape  with  their  spoils. 

In  all  his  numerous  ordinances  Carvalho  neglected  none 
of  the  details  necessary  for  insuring  their  practical  utility, 
writing  many  of  them  on  his  knees  with  a  pencil,  and  send- 
ing them,  without  loss  of  time,  to  the  various  officers  charged 
with  their  execution.  His  wise  regulations  for  ensuring  a 
speedy  supply  and  a  regular  distribution  of  provisions 
averted  famine.  Great  fears  were  entertained  of  pestilential 
disorders,  in  consequence  of  the  putrid  exhalations  of  so 
many  corpses,  which  it  was  impossible  to  bury.  To  prevent 
this  additional  misfortune,  Carvalho  induced  the  Patriarch 
to  give  orders  that  the  bodies  of  the  dead  should  be  cast  into 
the  sea,  with  only  such  religious  ceremonies  as  circumstances 
permitted. 

But  the  Jesuits,  the  mortal  enemies  of  the  enlightened 
minister,  did  not  lose  this  opportunity  of  intriguing  against 
him,  and  openly  ascribed  the  catastrophe  to  the  wrath  of 
God  against  an  impious  Government.  Thus  Pombal  had  not 
only  to  cope  with  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  earthquake, 
but  also  with  the  venomous  attacks  of  hypocritical  bigots, 
in  spite  of  whose  clamours  he  interdicted  all  public  pro- 
cessions and  devotional  exercises  that  were  calculated  still 
further  to  inflame  the  excited  minds  of  the  populace. 

Though  Lisbon  was  the  chief  sufferer  from  the  great 
earthquake  of  1755,  the  shocks  which  destroyed  the  capital 
of  Portugal  proved  disastrous  in  many  other  places,  and 
vibrated  far  and  wide  over  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
globe.  St.  Ubes  was  nearly  swallowed  up  by  the  sudden 
rising  of  the  sea.  At  Cadiz  the  shocks  were  so  violent  that 
the  water  in  the  cisterns  washed  backwards  and  forwards  so 
as  to  make  a  great  froth  upon  it.  No  damage  was  done,  on 
account  of  the  excessive  strength  of  the  buildings ;  but,  about 
an  hour  after,  an  immense  wave,  at  least  60  feet  higher  than 
common,  was  seen  approaching  from  the  sea.  It  broke 
against  the  west  part  of  the  town,  which  is  very  rocky,  and 


US  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

where,  fortunately,  the  cliffs  abated  a  great  deal  of  its  force. 
At  last  it  burst  upon  the  walls,  destroyed  part  of  the  for- 
tifications, and  swept  away  huge  pieces  of  cannon.  The 
strong  causeway  which  connects  the  town  with  the  Island 
of  Leon,  was  utterly  destroyed,  and  more  than  fifty  people 
drowned  that  were  on  it  at  the  time. 

In  Seville  a  number  of  houses  were  thrown  down,  and  the 
bells  were  set  a-ringing  in  Malaga.  In  Italy,  Germany,  and 
France,  in  Holland  and  in  Sweden,  in  Great  Britain  and  in 
Ireland,  the  lakes  and  rivers  were  violently  agitated.  The 
water  in  Loch  Lomond  rose  suddenly  and  violently  against 
its  banks,  so  that  a  large  stone  lying  at  some  distance  from 
the  shore,  in  shallow  water,  was  moved  from  its  place,  and 
carried  to  dry  land,  leaving  a  deep  furrow  in  the  ground 
along  which  it  had  moved.  At  Kinsale,  in  Ireland,  a  great 
body  of  water  suddenly  burst  into  the  harbour,  and  with 
such  violence  that  it  broke  the  cables  of  two  vessels,  each 
moored  with  two  anchors,  and  of  several  boats  which  lay 
near  the  town.  The  vessels  were  whirled  round  several 
times  by  an  eddy  formed  in  the  water,  and  then  hurried 
back  again  with  the  same  rapidity  as  before.  London  was 
shaken,  the  midland  counties  disturbed,  and  one  high  cliff  in 
Yorkshire  threw  down  its  half- separated  rocks.  At  Toplitz, 
in  Bohemia,  between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock,  the  mineral 
waters  increased  so  much  in  quantity  that  all  the  baths  ran 
over.  About  half  an  hour  before,  the  spring  grew  turbid 
and  flowed  muddy,  and,  having. stopped  entirely  for  nearly  a 
minute,  broke  forth  again  with  prodigious  violence,  driving- 
be  fore  it  a  considerable  quantity  of  reddish  ochre.  After 
this,  it  became  clear,  and  flowed  as  pure  as  before,  but  sup- 
plying more  water  than  usual,  and  that  hotter  and  more 
impregnated  with  its  medicinal  substances. 

In  Barbary,  the  earthquake  was  felt  nearly  as  severely  as 
in  Portugal.  Great  part  of  the  city  of  Algiers  was  destroyed; 
at  Fez,  Mequinez,  and  Morocco  many  houses  were  thrown 
down,  and  numbers  of  persons  were  buried  in  the  ruins.  At 
Tangiers  and  Sallee  the  waters  rushed  into  the  streets  with 
great  violence,  and  when  they  retired  they  left  behind  them 
a  great  quantity  of  fish. 

Ships  sailing  on  the  distant  Atlantic  received  such  violent 


EFFECTS    OF   THE    LISBON    EARTHQUAKE.  119 

concussions  that  it  seemed  as  if  they  had  struck  upon  a  rock, 
and  even  America  was  disturbed. 

At  the  Island  of  Antigua  the  sea  rose  to  such  a  height  as 
had  never  been  known  before,  and  at  Barbadoes  a  tremen- 
dous wave  overflowed  the  wharfs  and  rushed  into  the  streets. 
The  remote  Canadian  lakes  were  seen  to  ebb  and  flow  in  an 
extraordinary  manner,  and  the  Red  Indian  hunter  felt  the 
last  expiring  pulsations  of  the  great  terrestrial  shock  which 
a  few  hours  before  had  overthrown  the  distant  capital  of 
Portugal. 

Such  were  the  extraordinary  effects  of  this  terrible  earth- 
quake, which  extended  over  a  space  of  not  less  than  four 
millions  of  square  miles !  Of  the  enormous  sensation  it 
produced  over  all  Europe,  as  well  as  of  the  deep  impression 
it  made  upon  his  own  youthful  mind,  Goethe,  then  about  six 
years  old,  has  given  us  a  masterly  account  in  his  autobio- 
graphy ('Dichtung  und  Wahrheit '). 

'  For  the  first  time,'  says  the  illustrious  poet,  '  the  boy's 
peace  of  mind  was  disturbed  by  an  extraordinary  event.  On 
November  1,  1755,  the  earthquake  of  Lisbon  took  place,  and 
spread  consternation  over  a  world  which  had  long  been 
accustomed  to  tranquillity  and  peace.  A  large  and  splendid 
capital,  the  seat  of  wealth  and  commerce,  suddenly  falls  a 
prey  to  the  most  terrible  disaster.  The  earth  shakes,  the 
sea  rises,  ships  are  dashed  against  each  other,  houses, 
churches,  and  towers  fall  in;  the  king's  palace  is  partly 
engulfed  by  the  waves ;  the  bursting  earth  seems  to  vomit 
flames,  for  smoke  and  fire  appear  everywhere  among  the 
ruins.  Sixty  thousand  persons,  but  a  moment  before  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  comfortable  existence,  are  swept  away,  and 
they  are  the  most  fortunate  who  no  longer  feel  or  remember 
their  misery.  The  flames  continue  to  rage,  along  with  a 
host  of  criminals  whom  the  catastrophe  has  set  at  liberty. 
The  unfortunate  survivors  are  exposed  to  robbery,  to  murder, 
to  every  act  of  violence ;  and  thus  on  all  sides  Nature  re- 
places law  by  the  reign  of  unfettered  anarchy.  Swifter  than 
the  news  could  travel,  the  effects  of  the  earthquake  had 
already  spread  over  a  wide  extent  of  land ;  in  many  places 
slighter  commotions  had  been  felt;  mineral  springs  had 
suddenly  ceased  to  flow;  and  all  these  circumstances  increased 


120  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

the  general  alarm  when  the  terrible  details  of  the  catastrophe 
became  known.  The  pious  were  now  not  sparing  of  moral 
reflexions,  the  philosophers  of  consolations,  the  clergy  of 
admonitions.  Thus  the  attention  of  the  world  was  for  some 
time  concentrated  upon  this  single  topic,  and  the  public, 
excited  by  the  misfortunes  of  strangers,  began  to  feel  an 
increasing  anxiety  for  its  personal  safety,  as  from  all  sides 
intelligence  came  pouring  in  of  the  widely-extended  effects  of 
the  earthquake.  The  demon  of  fear  has  indeed,  perhaps, 
never  spread  terror  so  rapidly  and  so  powerfully  over  the 
earth.  The  boy  who  heard  the  subject  frequently  discussed 
was  not  a  little  perplexed.  God,  the  Creator  and  Preserver 
of  Heaven  and  Earth,  whom  the  first  article  of  faith  repre- 
sented as  supremely  wise  and  merciful,  appeared  by  no 
means  paternal  while  thus  enveloping  the  just  and  the  un- 
just in  indiscriminate  ruin.  It  was  in  vain  that  his  youthful 
mind  endeavoured  to  shake  off  these  impressions,  nor  can 
this  be  wondered  at,  as  even  the  wise  and  the  learned  did 
not  agree  in  their  opinions  on  the  subject.' 


121 


CHAPTER  XL 

LANDSLIPS. 

Igneous  and  Aqueous  Causes  of  Landslips — Fall  of  the  Diablerets  in  1714  and 
1749 — Escape  of  a  Peasant  from  his  living  Tomb — Vitaliano  Donati  on  the  Fall 
of  a  Mountain  near  Sallenches — The  Destruction  of  Goldau  in  1806 — Wonderful 
Preservation  of  a  Child— Burial  of  Velleja  and  Tauretunum,  of  Pliirs  and 
Scilano — Landslip  near  Axmouth  in  Dorsetshire — Falling  in  of  Cavern-roofs — 
Dollinas  and  Jamas  in  Carniola  and  Dalmatia — Bursting  of  Bogs — Crateriform 
Hollows  in  the  Eifel. 

LANDSLIPS,  or  sudden  subsidences  and  displacements  of 
portions  of  land,  result  both  from  igneous  and  aqueous 
causes. 

Wherever  cavities  have  been  formed  beneath  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  whether  in  consequence  of  volcanic  eruptions  or 
by  the  erosive  and  dissolving  action  of  subterranean  waters, 
the  shock  of  an  earthquake  or  the  mere  weight  of  the  super- 
incumbent mass  may  cause  the  roof  to  fall  in,  or  the  super- 
ficial ground,  no  longer  sustained  by  its  undermined  foun- 
dations, to  slide  away  and  sink  to  a  lower  level. 

In  mountainous  regions  it  frequently  occurs  that  the 
foundations  of  a  rock,  undermined  by  filtering  waters,  give 
way,  and  that  huge  masses  of  stone  and  earth,  now  no  longer 
reposing  on  a  solid  basis,  are  precipitated  into  the  valley 
below.  More  than  once,  the  slipping  or  falling  in  of  a  moun- 
tain has  brought  death  and  destruction  upon  the  humble 
dwellings  of  the  Alpine  peasants,  aud  added  many  a  mourn- 
ful page  to  their  simple  annals.  Thus,  in  the  years  1714  and 
1 749,  large  beds  of  stone  were  detached  from  the  Diablerets,  a 
mountain  stock  between  the  cantons  of  Vaux  and  Yalais,  and 
burying  the  meadows  of  Cheville  and  Leytron  under  a  mound 
of  rubbish  300  feet  deep,  killed  many  herds  and  shepherds. 

In  the  first  of  these  catastrophes,  the  life  of  a  peasant  was 


1-22  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

preserved  in  a  wonderful  manner.  An  immense  block  came 
toppling  down  close  to  his  chalet  and  covered  it  like  a  shield, 
so  as  to  preserve  it  from  being  crushed  by  the  following 
debris,  though  piled  up  two  hundred  feet  above  it.  Thus, 
immured  as  it  were  in  a  living  tomb,  the  unfortunate  man 
spent  miserable  weeks  and  months,  subsisting  on  the  stores 
of  cheese  hoarded  in  his  hut,  without  light  and  air,  and 
in  constant  fear  that  the  rocks  above  his  head  might 
give  way  and  bury  him  under  their  ruins.  With  all  the 
energy  of  despair,  he  endeavoured  to  find  his  way  out  of  the 
mighty  mound  of  rubbish,  and  at  length,  after  incredible  toil, 
emerged  into  the  open  daylight.  More  like  a  spectre  than 
a  human  being,  pale  and  emaciated,  with  torn  clothes,  and 
covered  with  bruises,  he  knocked  at  the  door  of  his  house  * 
in  the  lower  valley,  where  his  wife  and  children,  who  had 
already  long  reckoned  him  among  the  dead,  were  at  first 
terrified  at  his  ghost-like  appearance,  and  called  in  the 
village  pastor  to  convince  them  of  his  identity,  before  they 
ventured  to  rejoice  at  his  return. 

On  the  road  from  Sallenches  to  Servoz,  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Arve,  well  known  to  all  the  visitors  of  Mont  Blanc,  may 
be  seen  the  ruins  of  a  high  mountain  which  collapsed  in  the 
year  1751,  causing  so  dreadful  a  crash  and  raising  such 
clouds  of  dust  that  the  whole  neighbourhood  thought  the 
world  was  at  an  end.  The  black  dust  was  taken  for  smoke  ; 
flames  had  been  seen  darting  about  in  the  murky  clouds,  and 
the  report  spread  to  Turin  that  a  new  Vesuvius  had  suddenly 
opened  its  subterranean  furnaces  among  the  highest  of  the 
Alpine  mountains.  The  king,  alarmed  or  interested  at  the 
news,  immediately  sent  the  famous  geologist  Vitaliano 
Donati  to  gather  accurate  information  on  the  spot.  Donati, 
travelling  night  and  day,  with  all  the  eagerness  of  a  zealous 
naturalist,  arrived  while  the  appalling  phenomenon  was  still 
in  full  activity. 

*  The  peasants,'  writes  Donati  to  a  friend,  '  had  all  fled 
from  the  neighbourhood,  and  did  not  venture  to   approach 

*  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  mention  that  in  the  Alps  many  of  the  peasants 
lead  a  migrator}'  existence.  During  the  summer  they  ascend,  with  their  herds, 
into  the  higher  valleys,  where  they  remain,  separated  from  their  families,  until  the 
first  night-frosts  force  them  to  return  to  their  homes  on  a  lower  level. 


LANDSLIP    OF    THE    ROSSJ3ERG.  ]23 

the  crashing  mountain  within  a  distance  of  two  Italian  miles. 
The  country  around  was  covered  with  dust,  which  closely 
resembled  ashes,  and  had  been  carried  by  the  wind  to  a 
distance  of  five  miles.  I  examined  the  dust,  and  found  it  to 
consist  of  pulverised  marble.  I  also  attentively  observed 
the  smoke,  but  could  see  no  flames,  nor  could  I  perceive  a 
sulphurous  smell ;  the  water  also  of  the  rivulets  and  sources 
showed  no  trace  of  sulphurous  matter.  This  convinced  me 
at  once  that  no  volcanic  eruption  was  taking  place,  and  pene- 
trating into  the  cloud  of  dust  which  enveloped  the  mountain, 
I  advanced  close  to  the  scene  of  the  commotion.  I  there 
saw  enormous  rocks  tumbling  piecemeal  into  an  abyss  with 
a  dreadful  noise,  louder  than  the  rolling  of  thunder  or  the 
roar  of  heavy  artillery,  and  distinctly  saw  that  the  smoke 
was  nothing  but  the  dust  rising  from  their  fall. 

'Further  investigations  also  showed  me  the  cause  of  the 
phenomenon,  for  I  found  the  mountain  to  consist  of  horizon- 
tal strata,  the  lowest  being  composed  of  a  loose  stone  of  a 
slaty  texture,  while  the  upper  ones,  though  of  a  more 
compact  nature,  were  rent  with  numerous  crevices.  On  the 
back  of  the  mountain  were  three  small  lakes,  the  water  of 
which,  penetrating  through  the  fissures  of  the  strata,  had 
gradually  loosened  their  foundations.  The  snow,  which  had 
fallen  during  the  previous  winter  more  abundantly  than  had 
ever  been  known  within  the  memory  of  man,  hastened  the 
progress  of  destruction,  and  caused  the  fall  of  six  hundred 
million  cubic  feet  of  stone,  which  alone  would  have  sufficed 
to  form  a  great  mountain.  Six  shepherds,  as  many  houses, 
and  a  great  number  of  cows  and  goats  have  been  buried 
under  the  ruins. 

'  In  my  report  to  the  king  I  have  accurately  described  the 
causes  and  effects  of  the  catastrophe,  and  foretold  its  speedy 
termination — a  prediction  which  has  been  fully  verified  by 
the  event — and  thus  the  new  volcano  has  become  extinct 
almost  as  soon  as  its  formation  was  announced.' 

Fortunately,  this  grand  convulsion  of  nature,  which  spread 
consternation  far  and  wide,  caused  the  death  of  but  a  few 
victims.  The  landslip  of  the  Rufi  or  Eossberg,  which,  on  Sep- 
tember 2, 1806, devastated  the  lovely  Vale  of  Goldau,  and  over- 
whelmed four  villages,  with  their  rich  pasture-grounds  and 


124  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

gardens,  was  far  more  disastrous.  The  preceding  years  had 
been  unusually  wet,  the  filtering  waters  had  loosened  the 
Nagelfluh,  or  coarse  conglomerate  of  which  the  mountain 
is  composed,  and  the  rains  having  latterly  been  almost 
continuous,  a  great  part  of  the  mountain,  undermined  by  the 
subterranean  action  of  the  waters,  at  length  gave  way  and 
was  hurled  into  the  valley  below. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  shepherds  who  were  tending 
their  herds  on  the  mountains  perceived  fresh  crevices  in  the 
ground  and  on  the  rock  walls.  In  many  parts  the  turf 
appeared  as  if  turned  up  by  a  ploughshare,  and  a  cracking 
noise  as  if  roots  were  violently  snapped  asunder  was  heard 
in  the  neighbouring  forest.  From  hour  to  hour,  the  rents, 
the  cracking,  the  rolling  down  of  single  stones  increased, 
until  finally,  at  about  five  in  the  afternoon,  a  large  chasm 
opened  in  the  flanks  of  the  mountain,  growing  every  instant 
deeper,  longer,  and  broader.  Then  from  the  opposite  Bighi 
the  forest  might  be  seen  to  wave  to  and  fro  like  a  storm - 
tossed  sea,  and  the  whole  flank  of  the  mountain  to  slide  down 
with  a  constantly  increasing  velocity,  until  finally  hundreds  of 
millions  of  cubic  feet  of  rock  came  sweeping  down  into 
the  valley  with  a  noise  as  if  the  foundations  of  the  earth 
were  giving  way.  The  friction  or  clash  of  the  huge  stones, 
hurled  against  each  other  in  their  fall,  produced  so  intense 
a  heat  that  flames  were  seen  to  flash  forth  from  the  avalanche, 
and  the  moisture  with  which  they  were  saturated,  being 
suddenly  changed  into  steam,  caused  explosions  like  those 
from  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  Dense  clouds  of  dust  veiled 
the  scene  of  destruction,  and  it  was  not  before  they  slowly 
rolled  away  that  the  whole  extent  of  the  disaster  became 
visible.  Where,  but  a  few  hours  since,  four  prosperous 
villages — Goldau,  Busingen,  Upper  and  Lower  Rothen,  and 
Lowerz — had  been  gilded  by  the  sun,  and  numerous  herds 
had  been  grazing  on  the  rich  pastures  along  the  borders  of 
the  lake  of  Lowerz,  nothing  was  now  to  be  seen  but  a  desolate 
chaos  of  rocks,  beneath  which  457  persons  lay  buried.  From 
this  terrible  disaster  some  wonderful  escapes  are  recorded. 
High  on  the  slope  of  the  Eossberg,  lived  Blasi  Mettler,  with 
his  young  wife  Agatha.  When,  in  the  morning,  the  first 
premonitory  signs  of  the  disaster  appeared,  and  the  labouring 


LANDSLIP    OF    THE    VALE    OF   GOLDAU.  125 

mountain  began  to  raise  its  warning  voice,  the  superstitious 
peasant,  fancying  he  heard  the  jubilee  of  demons,  hastened 
down  to  Arth,  on  the  bank  of  the  lake  of  Zug,  and  begged 
the  parish  priest,  with  tears  and  lamentations,  to  accompany 
him,  and  exorcise  the  evil  spirits  with  a  copious  sprinkling 
of  holy  water.  While  he  was  still  speaking,  the  catastrophe 
took  place,  and  he  now  rushed  back  again  to  his  hut,  where 
beyond  all  doubt  his  beloved  wife  and  his  only  child,  which 
was  but  four  weeks  old,  had  found  a  premature  grave. 

Meanwhile  Agatha  had  spent  several  anxious  hours.  She 
was  preparing  her  humble  evening  meal  when  the  thunder- 
ing uproar  and  the  shaking  of  the  hut  filled  her  with  the 
terrors  of  death.  Seizing  the  infant,  which  lay  awake  in  its 
cradle,  she  crossed  the  threshold,  while  the  soil  under  her 
feet  slid  down  into  the  valley.  Escaping  into  the  open  air, 
she  looked  back  and  saw  her  hut  and  a  sea  of  huge  stone 
blocks  roll  down  into  the  vale  below,  while  the  spot  on  which 
she  stood  remained  unmoved.  In  this  situation  she  was 
found  by  Blasi,  who,  though  a  poor  and  ruined  man,  still 
thanked  God  for  the  wonderful  preservation  of  his  family. 

About  a  thousand  feet  lower  down  the  mountain  lived 
Blasi's  brother  Bastian,  who,  when  the  mountain  slipped,  was 
tending  his  herd  on  the  opposite  Eighi.  But  his  wife  and 
her  two  little  children  were  in  his  hut  when  it  was  buried 
beneath  the  stony  avalanche.  After  the  terrible  commotion 
had  subsided,  the  relations  of  Frau  Mettler,  anxious  to  ascer- 
tain her  fate,  hastened  to  the  scene  of  desolation.  The  hut 
had  disappeared,  the  green  Alpine  meadow  was  covered  with 
a  heap  of  ruins,  but,  not  far  from  the  former  site  of  the  hum- 
ble cottage,  the  youngest  child  lay  quietly  sleeping.  At  the 
peril  of  his  life,  one  of  the  infant's  relations  clambered  over 
the  ruins  and  rescued  the  little  sleeper,  who,  unhurt  amidst 
the  falling  rafters  of  the  hut  and  the  ruins  of  the  crumbling 
mountain,  had  been  carried  away  with  the  bed  on  which  he 
was  reposing.  On  my  last  visit  to  Switzerland,  I  was  in- 
formed that  Sebastian  Meinhardt  Mettler,  the  child  thus 
wonderfully  saved,  died  in  the  year  1867,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
one. 

Some  of  the  victims  who  had  been  buried  in  the  ruins  of 
the  villages  were  dug  out  and  restored  to  daylight ;  others, 


126  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

less  fortunate,  may  have  slowly  perished,  immured  in  a  living 
grave ;  but  by  far  the  greater  number  were  no  doubt  sud- 
denly killed.  The  total  number  of  those  who  were  saved, 
either  by  the  assistance  of  their  friends,  or  by  a  timely  flight, 
or  by  absence  from  their  homes  at  the  time  of  the  disaster, 
amounted  to  220  ;  but  more  than  double  that  number  perished, 
and  probably  there  was  not  one  among  the  survivors  who  had 
not  to  lament  the  loss  of  friends  and  kinsfolk. 

This  dreadful  catastrophe  also  levied  its  tribute  among  the 
strangers  whom  the  beauties  of  Alpine  scenery  annually 
attract  to  Switzerland.  A  party  of  tourists  had  left  Arth 
in  the  afternoon  with  the  intention  of  spending  the  night 
in  Schwyz.  Part  of  the  company  had  already  entered  the  ill- 
fated  village  of  Goldau,  and  the  others  were  about  to  follow, 
when  suddenly  the  thundering  roar  of  the  sliding  moun- 
tain caused  them  to  stop.  Looking  up  and  seeing  rocks, 
forests,  huts,  all  rushing  down  in  horrible  confusion,  they 
instinctively  ran  back  for  their  lives.  The  warning  came 
not  one  instant  too  soon,  for  close  behind  the  spot  where 
they  stopped  panting  for  breath,  the  stones  still  fell 
like  hail.  But  their  unfortunate  companions,  the  wife  and 
daughter  of  Baron  Diesbach,  Colonel  Victor  von  Steiger,  and 
some  boys,  whose  tutor  had  been  slowly  following  them  with 
the  Baron,  were  buried  beneath  the  ruins. 

From  the  Eighi  the  traveller  still  looks  down  upon  the 
avalanche  of  stones,  and  the  flank  of  the  Rossberg  still 
plainly  shows  the  spot  where,  more  than  half  a  century  ago, 
the  masses  of  rock  now  reposing  in  the  valley  detached 
themselves  from  the  mountain.  But  the  beautifying  hand 
of  vegetation  has  already  done  much  to  adorn  the  scene  of 
ruin.  Green  mosses  have  woven  their  soft  carpet  over  the 
naked  stones,  while  grasses  and  flowers,  and  in  some  places 
even  shrubs  and  trees,  have  sprung  up  between  them.  The 
tears  also  which  once  were  shed  over  the  victims  of  the 
great  catastrophe  have  long  since  been  dried,  and  its  last 
witnesses  have  passed  away  to  make  room  for  a  new  genera- 
tion, who  remember  the  mountain-slip  which  buried  their 
fathers  only  as  a  legend  of  the  past. 

This  terrible  disaster,  however  appalling  through  the  far- 
spread  desolation  it  entailed,  has  yet  been  equalled  or  sur- 


FREQUENCY    OF    LANDSLIPS.  127 

passed  by  others  of  a  like  nature.  In  the  fifth,  century,  the  old 
Roman  town  of  Velleja  was  buried  under  the  ruins  of  the 
Eavinazzo  Mountain,  and  the  bones  and  coins  dug  out  of  its 
ancient  site  prove  that  no  time  was  left  to  the  inhabitants 
for  flight.  Tauretunum  was  once  a  flourishing  Roman  town, 
situated  on  the  south  bank  of  the  lake  of  Geneva,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Dent  d'Oche.  In  563  it  was  utterly  destroyed  by  a 
disruption  of  the  overhanging  mountain.  The  avalanche  of 
stones  which  at  that  time  was  hurled  down  upon  the  devoted 
city  is  still  visible  as  a  promontory  projecting  far  into  the 
lake,  which  is  here  at  least  500  feet  deep.  The  immense 
wave  caused  by  the  rocky  mass  as  it  plunged  into  the  water 
inundated  the  opposite  shore  from  Morges  to  Yevay,  and 
swept  away  every  homestead  that  lay  on  its  path. 

In  the  night  of  September  4,  1618,  the  falling  of  the 
Monte  Conto,  in  the  Yale  of  Chiavenna,  so  completely  buried 
the  small  town  of  Pliirs  and  the  village  of  Scilano,  that  of  their 
2,430  inhabitants  but  three  remained  alive,  and  but  one 
single  house  escaped  the  universal  destruction.  At  pre- 
sent, magnificent  chestnut-trees  grow  upon  the  mound  of 
ruins  and  cast  their  shade  over  the  graves  of  the  long-for- 
gotten victims.  Three  villages,  with  their  whole  population, 
were  covered  in  the  district  of  Treviso  when  the  Piz  moun- 
tain fell  in  1772  ;  and  the  enormous  masses  of  rock  which  in 
1248  detached  themselves  from  Mount  Grenier,  south  of 
Chambery  in  Savoy,  buried  five  parishes,  including  the  town 
and  church  of  Saint  Andre,  the  ruin  occupying  an  extent  of 
about  nine  square  miles. 

Sometimes  the  same  village  has  been  repeatedly  destroyed 
by  mountain-slips.  Thus  excavations  have  shown  that 
Brienz,  a  hamlet  built  on  the  borders  of  the  lake  of  the  same 
name,  on  a  mound  of  accumulated  ruins,  has  been  twice 
overwhelmed  by  a  deluge  of  stones  and  mud,  and  twice 
reconstructed. 

It  would  be  useless  to  multiply  examples  of  the  under- 
mining power  of  water.  I  will  merely  add  that  it  is  impossible 
to  wander  through  the  valleys  of  Switzerland  without  being 
struck  by  the  sight  of  the  sloping  hillocks  of  rubbish  piled 
up  against  the  foot  of  every  gigantic  rock  wall,  which  in 
many  cases   can   only  be   attributed   to   that   cause.      Some 


128 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


are  entirely  overgrown  with  large  firs,  thus  showing  that 
the  last  stony  avalanche  took  place  at  a  remote  period ; 
others  are  desolate  heaps  of  rubbish,  which  evidently  prove 
that  the  work  of  destruction  is  constantly  going  on,  and  that 
the  highest  peaks  will  ultimately  be  levelled  with  the  plain. 
Over  many  a  hamlet  the  sword  of  Damocles  is  continually 
suspended  in  the  shape  of  a  precipitous  rock- wall,  or  of  a 
forest-crowned  mountain-brow.  For  years  the  undermining 
waters  are  slowly  and  secretly  at  work,  and  then  suddenly  the 
crisis  takes  place. 


AXMOUTH   LANDSLIP. 


Were  the  history  of  the  Andes  or  of  the  Himalayas  as 
familiar  to  us  as  that  of  the  Alps,  we  should  be  able  to  relate 
many  like  instances  of  disastrous  mountain-slips.  But  the 
high  places  of  the  earth  do  not  alone  bear  witness  to  the 
power  of  aqueous  erosion,  for  wherever  the  soil  is  undermined, 
it  may  be  precipitated  to  a  lower  level.  Thus,  the  pheno- 
menon is  by  no  means  uncommon  in  England,  though  rarely 
occurring  on  so  large  a  scale  as  in  the  landslip  which  took 
place  at  Axmouth  in  Dorsetshire,  on  December  24,  1839. 

'  The  tract  of  downs  ranging  there  along  the  coast,'  says  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  {'  Principles  of  Geology'),  '  is  capped  by  chalk, 
which  rests  on  sandstone,  beneath  which  is  more  than  100 


THE    AXMOUTH    LANDSLIP.  129 

feet  of  loose  sand,  the  whole  of  these  masses  reposing  on 
retentive  beds  of  clay  shelving  towards  the  sea.  Numerous 
springs,  issuing  from  the  loose  sand,  have  gradually  removed 
portions  of  it,  and  thus  undermined  the  superstratum.  In 
1839,  an  excessively  wet  season  had  saturated  all  the  rocks 
with  moisture,  so  as  to  increase  the  weight  of  the  incumbent 
mass,  from  which  the  support  had  already  been  withdrawn 
by  the  action  of  springs.  Thus,  the  superstrata  were  pre- 
cipitated into  hollows  prepared  for  them,  and  the  adjacent 
masses  of  partially  undermined  rock  to  which  the  motion  was 
communicated,  were  made  to  slide  down,  on  a  slippery  basis 
of  watery  sand,  towards  the  sea.  These  causes  gave  rise  to 
a  convulsion,  which  began  on  the  morning  of  December  24, 
with  a  crashing  noise ;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
fissures  were  seen  opening  in  the  ground,  and  the  walls  of 
tenements  rending  and  sinking,  until  a  deep  chasm  or  ravine 
was  formed,  extending  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
length,  with  a  depth  of  from  100  to  150  feet,  and  a  breadth 
exceeding  240  feet.  At  the  bottom  of  this  deep  gulf  lie  frag- 
ments of  the  original  surface,  thrown  together  in  the  wildest 
confusion.  In  consequence  of  lateral  movements,  the  tract 
intervening  between  the  new  fissure  and  the  sea,  including 
the  ancient  undereliff,  was  fractured,  and  the  whole  line  of 
sea-cliff  carried  bodily  forwards  for  many  yards.  This  motion 
of  the  sea-cliff  produced  a  further  effect,  which  may  rank 
among  the  most  striking  phenomena  of  this  catastrophe. 
The  lateral  pressure  of  the  descending  rocks  urged  the  neigh- 
bouring strata,  extending  beneath  the  shingle  of  the  shore, 
by  their  state  of  unnatural  condensation,  to  burst  upwards  in  a 
line  parallel  to  the  coast,  so  that  an  elevated  ridge,  more  than 
a  mile  in  length  and  rising  more  than  forty  feet,  covered  by  a 
confused  assemblage  of  broken  strata  and  immense  blocks  of 
rock,  invested  with  seaweed  and  corallines,  and  scattered  over 
with  shells  and  starfish,  and  other  productions  of  the  deep, 
forms  an  extended  reef  in  front  of  the  present  range  of  cliffs.' 
Landslips  caused  by  the  falling  in  of  cavern  roofs  are  no- 
where more  common  than  in  the  cretaceous  strata,  which  are 
more  liable  than  others  to  be  undermined  by  the  action  of  run- 
ning waters.  In  the  vast  chalk-range  extending  from  Carinthia 
to  the  Morea,  they  occur  of  all  sizes,  from  a  diameter  of  a  few 

K 


130  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

fathoms  to  one  of  many  thousand  feet,  and  are  not  seldom  of 
considerable  depth.  They  are  generally  funnel-shaped,  some- 
times elongated ;  and  the  bottom  of  the  larger  ones  is  gene- 
rally covered  with  villages,  orchards,  vineyards,  or  consider- 
able tracts  of  arable  land.  In  Dalmatia,  Carinthia,  Carniola, 
and  Istria,  where  the  country  consists  chiefly  of  arid  plateaux 
or  mountain-chains,  exposed  to  the  dry  north-easterly  winds, 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  almost  exclusively  confined  to 
these  depressions  or  dollinas,  which,  as  a  further  protection 
against  the  cutting  blasts,  are  inclosed  with  walls  of  loose 
stones. 

Besides  the  funnel-shaped  landslips  or  dollinas,  there  are 
others  with  perpendicular  sides  like  walls  or  shafts,  "  which 
are  called  jam,as  or  mouths.  One  of  these  (near  Breschiak) 
descends  to  a  depth  of  384  feet.  The  hares  seek  a  winter 
refuge  in  the  dollinas,  and  the  jamas,  as  the  favourite 
resort  of  pigeons,  are  also  called  pigeon-holes  or  golubinas. 
Many  a  pedestrian  has  lost  his  life  by  falling  into  a  jama,  par- 
ticularly in  former  times,  when  fewer  precautions  were  taken 
to  protect  the  stranger  against  these  treacherous  precipices. 

In  the  Jura  Mountains  there  are  also  whole  rows  of  caul- 
dron-shaped depressions  ;  and  in  North  Jutland,  where  the 
chalk  formation  is  likewise  very  extensive,  a  recent  landslip 
suddenly  emptied  the  ISTorr  Lake,  which  lost  itself  in  sub- 
terranean channels. 

Effects  very  similar  to  those  of  an  ordinary  landslip  are 
sometimes  produced  by  the  bursting  of  a  bog.  On  the 
western  confines  of  England  and  Scotland,  the  Solway  Moss 
occupies  a  flat  area  about  seven  miles  in  circumference.  Its 
surface  is  covered  with  grass  and  rushes,  presenting  a  dry 
crust  and  a  fair  appearance ;  but  it  shakes  under  the  least 
pressure,  the  bottom  being  unsound  and  semi-fluid.  The 
adventurous  passenger  therefore,  who  sometimes,  in  dry 
seasons,  traverses  this  treacherous  waste,  must  pick  his  way 
over  the  rushy  tussocks  as  they  appear  before  him,  for 
here  the  soil  is  firmest.  If  his  foot  slip,  or  if  he  venture  to 
move  in  any  other  part,  it  is  possible  he  may  sink  never  to 
rise  again. 

On  December  16,  1772,  this  quagmire,  having  been  filled, 
like  a  great  sponge,  with  water,  daring  heavy  rains,  swelled 


VOLCANIC    FISSURES.  131 

to  an  unusual  height  above  the  surrounding  country,  and 
then  burst.  The  turfy  covering  seemed  for  a  time  to  act 
like  the  skin  of  a  bladder  retaining  the  fluid  within,  till  it 
forced  a  passage  for  itself,  when  a  stream  of  black  half- 
consolidated  mud  began  at  first  to  creep  over  the  plain, 
resembling  in  the  slow  rate  of  its  progress  an  ordinary 
lava-current.  No  lives  were  lost,  but  the  deluge  totally 
overwhelmed  some  cottages,  and  covered  400  acres  with  a 
mass  of  mud  and  vegetable  matter,  which  in  the  lowest  parts 
of  the  submerged  area  was  at  least  fifteen  feet  deep. 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  in  Ireland,  the  classic 
land  of  bogs,  such  phenomena  are  not  uncommon.  In  the 
peat  of  Donegal  an  ancient  log-cabin  was  found,  in  1833,  at 
the  depth  of  fourteen  feet.  The  cabin  was  filled  with  peat, 
and  was  surrounded  by  other  huts,  which  were  not  examined. 
Trunks  and  roots  of  trees,  preserved  in  their  natural  position, 
lay  around  these  huts.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  we 
have  here  one  instance  out  of  many  in  which  villages  have 
been  overwhelmed  by  the  bursting  of  a  moss. 

In  many  volcanic  regions  we  find  circular  cauldron- shaped 
depressions  in  the  earth's  surface,  which  might  easily  be 
mistaken  for  land-slips,  but  which  have  in  reality  been 
formed  by  explosive  discharges  of  confined  vapours.  When 
vents  or  fissures  are  produced  by  a  paroxysm  of  volcanic 
energy,  we  can  easily  understand  how  in  some  cases  the 
pent-up  gases,  finding  a  sudden  outlet  through  some  weaker 
part  of  the  surface,  must  act  like  a  powder  mine,  and  scatter- 
ing the  rocks  that  surrounded  the  orifice,  leave  a  deep  hollow 
behind  as  a  memento  of  their  fury.  The  depressions  thus 
caused  bear  a  great  resemblance  to  real  craters,  from  which 
they  are,  however,  distinguished  by  the  absence  of  a  cone  of 
scoriae  and  from  their  never  having  ejected  lava. 

These  curious  crateriform  hollows  are  very  common  in  the 
Eifel,  a  volcanic  region  in  Rhenish  Prussia,  where,  probably 
owing  to  the  clayey  nature  of  the  soil,  they  have  become 
reservoirs  of  water,  or  Maare,  as  they  are  called  by  the 
natives.  Most  of  them  still  have  small  lakes  at  their  bottom, 
while  others  have  been  drained  for  the  sake  of  cultivation,  or 
by  the  spontaneous  rupture  or  erosion  of  their  banks.  Some 
of  them  are   of   considerable  dimensions,  such    as   that   of 

K    2 


132  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Meerfeld,  the  diameter  of  which  falls  very  little  short  of  a 
mile  ;  or  the  Pulvermaar  of  Gillenfeld,  remarkable  for  the 
extreme  regularity  of  its  magnificent  oval  basin. 

Similar  lakes  or  Maare  occur  in  Auvergne,  in  Java,  in  the 
Canary  Islands,  in  New  Zealand,  and  in  the  volcanic  districts 
of  Italy.  The  beautiful  lakes  of  Albano  and  Nemi,  which 
have  been  so  often  sung  by  ancient  and  modern  poets,  belong 
to  this  class ;  but  Fr.  Hoffmann,  a  celebrated  German  geologist, 
ascribes  the  origin  of  the  former  to  a  landslip  caused  by  the 
falling  in  of  the  roof  of  a  vast  subterranean  cavern. 


STALACTITE    CAVERN     AT    AGGTELEK,     HUNGARY:     THE    CAVE    OF    BORODLA. 


133 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ON    CAVES    IN   GENERAL. 

Their  various  Forms — Natural  Tunnels — The  Ventanillas  of  Gualgayoc— Eimeo — 
Torgatten — Hole  in  the  Miirtschenstock — The  Trebich  Cave — Grotto  of  Anti- 
paros — Vast  Dimensions  of  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg  and  of  the  Mammoth 
Cave  —  Discovery  of  Baumann's  Cave — Limestone  Caves — Causes  of  their 
Excavation — Stalactites  and  Stalagmites — Their  Origin — Variety  of  Forms — 
Marine  Caves  —  Shetland — Fingal's  Cave — The  Azure  Cave  —  Cave  under 
Bonifacio — Grotta  di  Nettuno,  near  Syracuse — The  Bufador  of  Papa  Luna — 
Volcanic  Caves — The  Fossa  della  Palomba — Caves  of  San  Miguel — The 
Surtshellir. 

THE  natural  excavations  which  abound  in  many  mountain 
chains,  or  on  rocky  shores  washed  by  the  stormy  sea, 
are  extremely  various  in  their  forms.  Many  are  mere  rents 
or  crevices  in  the  disruptured  rocks  ;  others  wide  vaults,  not 
seldom  of  hall  or  dome-like  dimensions,  or  long  and  narrow 
passages  branching  out  in  numerous  ramifications.  Not 
seldom  the  same  cave  alternately  expands  into  spacious 
chambers,  and  then  again  contracts  into  narrow  tunnels  or 
galleries.  The  walls  of  many  are  smooth  and  nearly  parallel ; 
the  sides  of  others  are  irregular  and  rugged.  Many  have 
narrow  entrances  and  swell  at  greater  depths  into  majestic 
proportions ;  while  others  open  with  wide  portals,  and  gra- 
dually diminish  in  size  as  they  penetrate  into  the  rock. 
Sometimes  an  excavation  pierces  a  mountain  from  side  to 
side  like  a  natural  tunnel,  so  as  to  allow  a  passage  to  the 
light  of  day.  Such,  among  others,  are  the  numerous  per- 
forations or  windows  (ventanillas)  in  the  serrated  bastions  of 
the  rich  silver  mountain  Gualgayoc  in  the  Peruvian  Andes, 
or  the  opening  through  one  of  the  high  peaks  of  the  romantic 
island  of  Eimeo  which  rises  within  sight  of  Tahiti  out  of  the 
dark  blue  ocean.  According  to  a  popular  tradition,  this  hole 
owes  its  origin  to  Oro,  the  powerful  god  of  war,  who,  having 


134  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

one  day  quarrelled  with  the  minor  god  of  Eimeo,  hurled  his 
mighty  spear  at  him  over  the  sea.  As  even  gods,  when 
losing  their  temper,  are  apt  to  miss  their  aim,  the  puny 
delinquent  escaped  unhurt,  while  the  dreadful  lance  flew  like 
a  thunderbolt  through  the  mountain,  leaving  the  perforation 
as  a  lasting  memorial  of  its  passage.  In  Europe  we  likewise 
meet  with  several  remarkable  instances  of  such  natural 
tunnels.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  is  the  grotto  of  Tor- 
gatten  in  Norway,  which  perforates  a  huge  rock,  400  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Its  proportions  are  truly  colossal,  as 
it  is  no  less  than  900  feet  long  by  from  80  to  100  feet  broad  ; 
and  the  arches  of  its  vast  portals  measure  respectively  200 
and  120  feet.  Its  floor  is  nearly  horizontal,  and  covered  with 
fine  sand ;  its  sides  are  smooth,  as  if  they  had  been  chiselled 
by  the  hand  of  man.  The  sea,  with  its  numberless  cliffs 
and  white-crested  breakers,  appears  through  the  immense 
gallery  as  through  the  tube  of  a  gigantic  telescope,  and  in 
fine  sunny  weather  affords  a  spectacle  of  incomparable 
beauty. 

Whoever  has  visited  the  romantic  lake  of  Wallenstadt,  in 
Switzerland,  will  have  had  his  attention  directed  to  a  tunnel 
near  the  summit  of  the  almost  inaccessible  Miirtschen stock,  a 
favourite  resort  of  the  chamois.  It  is  visible  from  the  lake 
near  the  hamlet  of  Muhlehorn,  and,  though  of  considerable 
dimensions,  appears  to  the  eye  like  a  mere  speck  of  snow  on 
the  huge  grey  rockwall,  which  towers  to  a  height  of  7,517 
feet.  From  the  1st  to  the  3rd  of  February,  at  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  the  inhabitants  of  Muhlehorn  see  through  this 
aperture  the  disk  of  the  sun  for  the  first  time  after  a  long 
winter. 

In  the  structure  of  some  caves  a  vertical  direction  pre- 
dominates; as,  for  instance,  in  the  Trebich  Cave,  three 
leagues  from  Trieste,  which  consists  of  several  perpendicular 
shafts,  connected  by  narrow  transversal  passages,  and  de- 
scending one  after  another,  until  finally,  at  a  depth  of 
more  than  a  thousand  feet,  the  cavern  terminates  in  a  wide 
vaulted  space  spanning  a  subterranean  river.  Such,  also, 
is  the  renowned  Grotto  of  Antiparos,  into  which  the  visitor 
is  let  down  by  a  rope  to  a  depth  of  about  twenty  fathoms. 
After  reaching  a  tolerably  even  platform,  he  is   obliged  to 


THE    MAMMOTH    CAVE    OF   KENTUCKY.  135 

descend  another  precipice,  and  then  to  proceed  over  slippery 
rocks  until  he  finally  reaches  the  terminal  vault. 

In  most  caverns,  however,  the  chief  direction  is  horizontal, 
either  on  several  planes,  separated  from  each  other  by  more 
or  less  steep  passages,  or  on  a  single  level.  The  dimensions 
of  caves  are  as  various  as  their  forms.  Many  are  small  and 
of  inconsiderable  depth — mere  holes  worn  in  the  rock  ;  while 
others  are  of  a  truly  astonishing  size,  and  fatigue  the 
wondering  spectator  as  he  wanders  through  their  lofty  halls 
or  endless  galleries.  The  famous  Cave  of  Adelsberg  in 
Carniola  has  been  explored  to  a  distance  of  1,243  fathoms 
from  the  chief  entrance ;  and  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  in 
Kentucky  no  less  than  226  avenues  branch  out  to  the  right 
and  left  from  the  main  gallery,  so  as  to  form  a  network  of 
subterranean  passages  and  halls  of  various  dimensions, 
whose  total  length  has  been  computed  at  about  160  miles ! 

As  many  caves  are  without  any  visible  communication 
with  the  external  world,  and  the  entrance  of  others  is 
frequently  narrow,  and  concealed  behind  rocks  in  solitary 
ravines  on  wild  hill  slopes  or  steep  sea  shores,  far  from  the 
busy  haunts  of  man,  we  cannot  wonder  that  chance  has 
frequently  been  instrumental  in  their  discovery.  Sometimes 
a  hunter  pursuing  a  wild  animal  has  been  led  to  the  hidden 
cave  in  which  it  sought  a  refuge,  or  the  workmen  in  a 
quarry  have  been  suddenly  surprised  at  meeting  with  a 
hollow  in  the  rock,  which  opened  an  unexpected  passage 
into  the  bowels  of  the  mountain.  The  digging  of  wells,  of 
cellars,  of  foundations,  the  boring  for  mines  or  Artesian 
wells,  has  often  revealed  the  existence  of  unknown  sub- 
terranean chambers  ;  and  so  recently  as  1868,  one  of  the 
finest  known  caverns,  which  already  attracts  a  number  of 
delighted  visitors,  was  discovered  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  thriving  manufacturing  town  of  Iserlohn  in  Westphalia, 
on  blasting  a  rock  for  the  making  of  a  railway.  We  may 
thus  infer  that  a  vast  number  of  caves  must  still  be  totally 
unknown ;  many  so  situated  that  chance  may  one  day  lead 
to  their  discovery ;  while  others  are  hollowed  out  at  such 
vast  depths  in  the  earth-rind  as  to  be  for  ever  inaccessible 
to  man. 

Even  of  those  caves  which  have  been  objects  of  curiosity 


136  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

for  centuries,  many  have  still  been  by  no  means  thoroughly 
explored.  In  the  year  1848  an  American  gentleman  per- 
suaded the  guides  of  Baumann's  Cave  in  the  Harz  Moun- 
tains to  accompany  him  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  through 
parts  of  the  cavern  hitherto  untrodden  by  man.  It  was 
no  easy  task  to  clamber  over  slippery  rocks  and  deep 
chasms  yawning  into  black  abysses ;  but  curiosity  and  the 
spirit  of  adventure  kept  leading  them  on  from  passage  to 
passage  and  vault  to  vault,  when  suddenly  the  lights  began 
to  burn  more  dimly ;  and  the  glass  of  the  guiding  compass 
having  been  accidentally  broken  warned  them  to  retrace 
their  steps.  They  had  been  wandering  for  twenty-four 
hours  in  the  subterranean  labyrinth,  and  after  so  long  an 
absence  from  the  light  of  day,  joyfully  hailed  the  green  hill 
slope  which  decks  that  mysterious  palace  of  the  gnomes. 
Franz  Baumann,  the  first  discoverer  of  the  cavern,  was  less 
fortunate.  Its  tortuous  windings  confused  the  expert  and 
intrepid  miner,  who  lost  his  way  in  the  recesses  of  the  cave. 
While  seeking  in  vain  for  an  outlet,  his  sparing  light  went 
out.  Three  days  he  groped  about  in  darkness,  until  at 
length,  worn  out  and  exhausted,  he  was  led  by  a  wonderful 
chance  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave.  Before  he  died  he  had 
yet  sufficient  strength  briefly  to  mention  the  wonders  he  had 
seen  during  his  fatal  expedition.  His  descendants  still 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  serving  as  guides  to  the  visitors  of  the 
cave,  and  never  fail  to  relate  the  melancholy  end  of  their  ill- 
fated  forefather. 

Grottoes  and  caves  occur  in  every  kind  of  rock,  in  lavas, 
basalt,  slate,  and  granite,  as  well  as  in  limestone,  dolomite, 
and  gypsum  ;  for  the  volcanic  powers  are  capable  of  rending 
the  hardest  stone,  and  the  foaming  breakers  of  a  turbulent 
ocean  meet  with  no  cliff  that  is  able  ultimately  to  resist 
their  never-tiring  assaults. 

But,  owing  to  their  great  fragility  and  to  the  solubility  of 
limestone  (carbonate  of  lime)  in  water  containing  carbonic 
acid,  calcareous  rocks  are  more  liable  than  any  others  to 
be  shattered  and  undermined,  both  by  volcanic  and  aqueous 
causes.  Its  water  readily  absorbs  carbonic  acid  gas.  Every 
drop  of  rain  that  falls  upon  the  ground  necessarily  contains 
some  small  portion  of  this  gas,  which,  as  we  all  know,  is 


THE    CAVE   OF   ADELSBERG. 


137 


constantly  mixed  with  the  atmosphere,  and  thus  becomes 
a  solvent  for  chalk ;  more  particularly  if  the  latter,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  Karst  Mountains  of  Carniola,  contains  some 
proto- carbonate  of  iron,  which,  changing  into  an  oxide  when 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  CAVE  OP  ADELSIU'lIO. 


in  contact  with  water,  yields  its  carbonic  acid  to  the  per- 
colating fluid,  and  consequently  increases  its  solvent  powers. 
Hence  every  shower  of  rain  that  filters  through  the  crevices 
of  a  limestone  rock  wears  away  some  part  of  its  mass ;  and 
if  we  consider  the  vast  number  of  years  over  which  these 


138  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

operations  have  extended,  and  add  to  their  effects  the  trans- 
porting powers  of  the  waters  on  their  progress  through  the 
subterranean  channels  which  they  have  excavated  or  enlarged, 
we  can  easily  comprehend  how  in  the  course  of  ages  whole 
mountains  may  be  hollowed  out. 

As  the  streams  that  flow  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  are 
constantly  altering  their  courses,  thus  also  the  subterranean 
waters  are  ever  active  in  excavating  new  channels  in  the 
bosom  of  the  rock.  Finding  at  length  new  outlets  on  a 
lower  level,  they  abandon  their  ancient  beds,  and  the  ex- 
plorer now  wanders  dry-footed  where  once  a  foaming  river 
gushed  along.  The  Cave  of  Adelsberg  is  a  remarkable 
example  of  the  changes  which  the  subterranean  waters, 
aided  by  time  or  by  the  disrupting  power  of  earthquakes, 
may  thus  bring  about ;  for  the  Poik  now  flows  beneath  its 
galleries  in  the  same  north-easterly  direction,  in  a  channel 
which  is  for  the  greatest  part  unknown  and  inexplorable,  so 
that  the  dry  cave  of  the  present  day  must  evidently  have 
been  the  old  river-bed.  But  nowhere  can  be  found  such 
perfect,  unequivocal,  and  abundant  proofs  of  the  action  of 
running  water  in  corroding  and  excavating  new  passages 
in  a  soluble  rock  as  in  the  huge  Mammoth  Cave.  The 
rough-hewn  block  in  the  quarry  does  not  bear  more  distinct 
proof  of  the  hammer  and  the  chisel  of  the  workman  than 
these  interminable  galleries  afford  of  its  denuding  and 
dissolving  power.  At  Niagara  we  see  a  vast  chasm  evidently 
cut  by  water  for  seven  miles,  and  still  in  progress ;  but  we 
cannot  see  beneath  the  cataract  the  water- worn  surface,  nor 
the  rounded  angles  of  the  precipice ;  while  the  frosts  and 
rains  of  countless  winters  have  reduced  the  walls  of  the 
chasm  itself  to  a  talus  of  crumbling  and  moss-grown  rocks. 
But  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  we  see  a  freshness  and  perfection 
of  surface  such  as  can  be  found  only  where  the  destructive 
agencies  of  meteoric  causes  are  wholly  absent.  Here  we 
have  the  dry  beds  of  subterranean  rivers  exactly  as  they 
were  left  thousands  of  years  ago  by  the  streams  which 
flowed  through  them  when  Niagara  was  young.  No  angle 
is  less  sharp,  no  groove  or  excavation  less  perfect,  than  it 
was  originally  left  when  the  waters  were  suddenly  drained 
off  by  cutting  their  way  to  some  lower  level.     The  very  sand 


ACTION    OF    WATER    IX    CAVES.  139 

and  rounded  pebbles,  which  now  pave  the  galleries  and  which 
anciently  formed  the  bed  of  the  stream,  have  remained  in 
many  of  the  more  distant  galleries  untrodden  even  by  the  foot 
of  man.  '  The  rush  of  ideas  was  strange  and  overpowering,' 
says  Professor  Silliman,  *  as  I  stood  in  one  of  these  before 
unvisited  avenues,  in  which  the  glow  of  a  lamp  had  never 
before  shone,  and  considered  the  complex  chain  of  phe- 
nomena wdiich  were  before  me.  There  were  the  delicate 
silicious  forms  of  cyathophylli  and  encrinites  protruding 
from  the  softer  limestone,  which  had  yielded  to  the  dis- 
solving power  of  the  water ;  these  carried  me  back  to  that 
vast  and  desolate  ocean  in  which  they  flourished,  and  were 
entombed  as  the  crystalline  matrix  was  slowly  cast  around 
them,  mute  chroniclers  of  a  distant  epoch.  Then  suc- 
ceeded the  long  periods  of  the  upper  secondary,  and,  these 
past,  the  slow  but  resistless  force  of  the  contracting  sphere 
elevated  and  drained  the  rocky  beds  of  the  ancient  ocean. 
The  action  of  the  meteorological  causes  commenced,  and 
the  dissolving  power  of  fresh  water,  following  the  almost  in- 
visible lines  of  structure  in  the  rocks,  began  to  hollow 
out  these  winding  paths  slowly  and  yet  surely.'  What  a 
lesson  for  the  thoughtful  spectator,  and  how  vast  a  prospect 
into  the  dark  abysses  of  the  past  here  unrolls  itself  before  him  ! 

After  abandoning  the  vaults  where  they  once  collected 
and  formed  a  running  stream,  the  waters,  filtering  through 
the  porous  limestone,  begin  to  ornament  them  with  lustrous 
petrifactions ;  for  whether  below  or  above  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  Nature  ever  loves  to  decorate  her  works.  The 
moisture,  charged  with  carbonate  of  lime,  evaporates  or  parts 
with  its  free  carbonic  acid  in  coming  into  contact  with  the 
air  of  the  cave ;  the  carbonate,  now  no  longer  held  in  solution, 
precipitates  and  forms  calcareous  incrustations  or  excres- 
cences, which  in  course  of  time  assume  every  variety  of  fan- 
tastic shape,  either  hanging  like  icicles  from  the  vault  (sta- 
lactites), or  rising  in  columns  (stalagmites)  from  the  floor  of 
the  cave  where  the  dripping  water  deposited  its  spar.  Some- 
times stalactites  and  stalagmites  join  as  they  continue  to 
grow  in  opposite  directions,  and  ultimately  form  pillars  which 
appear  to  sustain  the  roof. 

On  considering  the  simple  physical  and  chemical  agencies 


140  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

which  are  at  work  in  the  formation  of  these  beautiful  pro- 
ductions— solution,  mechanical  dripping,  evaporation,  and 
precipitation — a  great  similarity  might  naturally  be  expected 
in  their  forms  ;  but  here  also  Nature  shows  herself  as  a  con- 
summate artist,  and  with  the  simplest  means  brings  forth 
an  astonishing  variety  of  effects.  As  among  the  leaves  of  a 
forest  there  are  not  two  perfectly  alike,  thus  also  every 
stalactite  differs  from  another  ;  and  the  celebrated  traveller 
Kohl  affirms  that  every  stalactital  cave  has  its  peculiar 
style  or  character  of  decoration.  The  causes  to  which  stalac- 
tites owe  their  existence  are  indeed  everywhere  the  same,  but 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  drops  fall  and  evaporate 
are  so  various  that  in  each  case  some  new  shape  is  produced. 
Thus  all  the  infinite  diversity  of  forms  which  we  admire  in 
the  corals  and  sponges  of  the  seas,  is  wonderfully  repeated 
in  the  dark  vaults  of  the  subterranean  world. 

The  variety  and  beauty  of  their  colouring  likewise  con- 
tribute to  adorn  these  formations.  They  are  generally 
white,  sometimes  rivalling  the  purity  of  snow,  and  trans- 
lucent, even  when  of  considerable  thickness,  but  often  also 
green,  brown,  yellow,  red,  orange — a  variety  of  tints  which 
produces  the  most  pleasing  effects,  and  is  chiefly  owing  to 
the  metallic  salts  with  which  the  water  has  been  impreg- 
nated while  filtering  through  the  calcareous  rock. 

All  these  wonderful  plays  of  Nature,  in  which  form  and 
colour  contribute  to  delight  the  eye  or  to  charm  the  fancy 
of  the  spectator,  are,  however,  still  less  interesting  than  the 
reflections  suggested  by  the  slow  growth  of  stalactites  in 
general,  and  the  enormous  size  which  some  of  them  attain. 

Inscriptions  seventy  or  eighty  years  old  appear  covered 
only  with  a  thin  translucent  coat  of  sinter,  and  in  the  Cave 
of  Adelsberg  names  scratched  in  the  walls  more  than  six 
centuries  ago  are  still  perfectly  legible.  How  many  ages 
must,  then,  have  passed  before  such  colossal  stalagmites  could 
have  been  formed  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Australian  cavern 
explored  by  Mr.  Woods,*  or  in  the  Cave  of  Corneale,  near 
Trieste,  where  we  find  one  of  these'  formations  measuring 
fifty  feet  in  circumference,  and  another  rising  thirty-five 
feet   above  the    ground,  with   a  trunk  as  massive  as  that 

*  '  The  Geology  of  South  Australia.' 


SLOW   FORMATION    OF   CAVERNS. 


141 


of  an  old  oak.  The  ruins  of  Thebes,  or  the  rock-temples  of 
Ipsamboul,  appear  almost  as  works  of  the  present  day  when 
compared  with  those  amazing"  monuments  of  time.  But, 
while  meditating  on  their  colossal  dimensions,  the  mind 
is  necessarily  carried  still  further  back,  and  wanders  through 
the  countless  ages  which  the  filtering  waters,  collecting  into 


STALACTITAL   CAVERN  IN   AUSTRALIA. 


subterranean  streams,  required  for  hollowing  out  the  vast 
cavities  on  whose  floor  those  gigantic  stalagmites  were  sub- 
sequently deposited.  An  epoch  of  still  older  date  presents 
itself  when  the  limestone  rocks,  now  pierced  with  vast  sta- 
lactital  caverns,  were  first  slowly  forming  at  the  bottom  of 
the  primeval  sea  by  the  accumulation  of  countless  exuvia? 
of  zoophytes,  star-fishes,  and  foraminifera,  and  after  growing 


142  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

into  strata  many  hundred  feet  thick,  were  then  forced  up- 
wards by  plutonic  powers,  and  became  portions  of  the  dry 
land.  Nor  is  this  the  end  of  the  vast  perspective,  for 
changes  still  more  remote  loom  in  the  fathomless  distance. 
The  mind  grows  giddy  while  thus  plunging  into  the  abyss 
of  time,  and,  in  spite  of  the  ideas  of  sublimity  awakened 
by  such  meditations,  feels  a  painful  sense  of  its  incapacity 
to  conceive  a  plan  of  such  infinite  extent. 

While  on  land  the  running  or  filtering  waters  restlessly 
pursue  their  work  of  excavation,  the  tumultuous  waves  of 
the  ocean  impress  on  every  rocky  shore  the  seal  of  their 
tremendous  power.  As,  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year, 
the  billows  strike  against  the  cliffs  that  oppose  their 
progress,  they  undermine  their  foundations,  scoop  out  wide 
portals  in  their  projecting  headlands,  and  hollow  out  deep 
caverns.  Hera  also  water  appears  as  the  beautifying 
element,  decorating  inanimate  nature  with  picturesque 
forms ;  and  the  sea  nowhere  exhibits  more  romantic  scenes 
than  on  the  bold  coasts  against  which  her  waves  have  been 
beating  for  many  a  millennium.  During  the  calm  ebb  tide 
seals  are  often  seen  sunning  themselves  at  the  entrance 
of  the  oceanic  grottoes,  while  cormorants  stand  before 
them  as  guardians  of  the  dark  galleries  beyond ;  the  waves 
murmur  in  softer  strains,  and  the  screeching  sea-mew  glides 
with  his  silvery  pinions  through  the  tranquil  air  ;  but  when 
the  stormy  flood  batters  against  the  coast,  the  billows  rush 
into  the  caverns,  scaring  all  animal  life  away,  and  no  voice 
is  heard  but  that  of  the  ocean. 

Our  coasts  abound  in  beauties  such  as  these,  particularly 
on  the  wild  shores  of  Shetland  or  the  stormy  Hebrides — ■ 

'  Where  rise  no  groves  and  where  no  gardens  blow, 
Where  even  the  hardy  heath  scarce  dares  to  grow  ; 
But  rocks  on  rocks,  in  mii?t  and  storm  arrayed, 
Stretch  far  to  sea  their  giant  colonnade.'  —  Scott. 

Along  the  coast  of  the  mainland  of  Shetland  and  the 
neighbouring  islets  of  Bressay  and  Noss,  cape  follows  upon 
cape,  consisting  of  bold  cliffs  hollowed  into  caverns,  or 
divided  into  pillars  and  arches  of  fantastic  appearance,  by 
the  constant  action  of  the  waves.     As  the  voyager  passes 


THE    CAVE    OF    CAPRI.  143 

the  most  northerly  of  these  headlands,  and  turns  into  the 
open  sea,  the  scenes  become  yet  more  sublime.  Rocks, 
upwards  of  three  or  four  hundred  feet  in  height,  present 
themselves  in  colossal  succession,  sinking-  perpendicularly 
into  the  sea,  which  is  very  deep,  even  within  a  few  fathoms 
of  their  base.  All  these  huge  precipices  abound  with  caves, 
many  of  which  run  much  farther  into  the  rock  than  the 
boldest  islander  has  ever  ventured  to  penetrate.  One  of  these 
marine  excavations,  called  '  The  Orkneyman's  Harbour,' 
is  remarkable  for  the  circumstance  of  an  Orkney  vessel 
having  once  run  in  there  to  escape  a  French  privateer.  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  who  visited  this  interesting  spot,  found  the 
entrance  lofty  enough  to  admit  his  six-oared  boat  without 
striking  the  mast,  but  a  sudden  turn  in  the  direction  of  the 
cave  would  have  consigned  him  to  utter  darkness  if  he  had 
gone  in  further.  The  dropping  of  the  sea  fowl  and  cormo- 
rants into  the  water  from  the  sides  of  the  cavern,  when 
disturbed  by  his  approach,  had  something  in  it  wild  and 
terrible. 

The  shores  of  Caithness  and  of  Sutherland,  and  of  many 
of  the  islets  in  the  Highland  seas,  likewise  exhibit  many 
wonderful  specimens  of  the  fantastic  architecture  of  the 
ocean ;  bnt  pre-eminent  above  all  in  grandeur  and  renown  is 
Fingal's  Cave. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  twice  visited  this  celebrated  grotto 
(in  1810  and  1814),  pronounced  it  above  all  description 
sublime.  'The  stupendous  columns  and  side-walls,  the 
depth  and  strength  of  the  ocean  with  which  the  cavern  is 
filled,  the  variety  of  tints  formed  by  stalactites  dropping 
and  petrifying  between  the  pillars,  and  resembling  a  sort  of 
chasing  of  yellow  or  cream-coloured  marble,  filling  the 
interstices  of  the  roof— the  corresponding  variety  below, 
where  the  ocean  rolls  over  a  red,  and  in  some  places  a  violet- 
coloured  rock,  the  basis  of  the  basaltic  pillars — the  dreadful 
noise  of  those  august  billows,  so  well  corresponding  with  the 
grandeur  of  the  scene — are  all  circumstances  elsewhere  un- 
paralleled.' 

In  the  Azure  Cave  of  Capri,  the  Mediterranean  possesses 
a  marine  grotto  rivalling  Fingal's  Cave  in  celebrity,  and  no 
less  wonderful  in  its  peculiar  style  of  beauty.     As  the  roof  of 


144  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

its  narrow  entrance  rises  only  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  it  is  probable  that  no  hnman  eye  had  ever  been 
delighted  with  its  charms  before  1826,  when  it  was  acci- 
dentally discovered  by  two  Prussian  artists  who  were  swim- 
ming in  the  neighbourhood.  After  passing  the  low  portal 
the  cave  widens  to  grand  proportions,  125  feet  long  and 

145  feet  broad,  and  except  a  small  landing-place  on  a  pro- 
jecting rock  at  the  further  end,  its  precipitous  walls  are  on 
all  sides  bathed  by  the  influx  of  the  waters,  which,  in  that 
sea,  are  so  clear  that  the  smallest  objects  may  be  distinctly 
seen  on  the  bottom  of  the  deep  basin,  the  most  beautiful 
bathing-place  a  mermaid  might  wish  for.  All  the  light  that 
enters  the  grotto  must  first  penetrate  the  whole  depth  of  the 
waters  before  it  can  be  reflected  into  the  cave,  and  it  thus 
acquires  so  blue  a  tinge,  from  the  large  body  of  clear  water 
through  which  it  has  passed,  that  the  walls  of  the  cavern 
are  illumined  by  a  radiance  of  the  purest  azure.  Had  Byron 
known  of  the  existence  of  this  magic  cave,  Childe  Harold 
would  surely  have  devoted  some  of  his  most  brilliant  stanzas 
to  its  praise. 

In  many  other  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  the  limestone 
rocks  that  fringe  its  shores  have  been  worn  into  magnificent 
caverns,  less  singular,  indeed,  than  the  fairy  grot  of  Capri,  but 
still  of  rare  and  wonderful  beauty.  Such,  among  others, 
is  the  Antro  di  Nettuno,  in  the  island  of  Sardinia,  about 
twelve  miles  from  the  small  seaport  of  Alghero.* 

Exceedingly  picturesque  caverns  have  also  been  worn  by 
the  chafing  waters  in  the  chalk  cliffs  under  Bonifacio,  in  the 
island  of  Corsica.  Their  entrances  festooned  with  hanging 
boughs,  they  penetrate  far  into  the  interior  of  the  rocks,  and 
the  water  percolating  through  their  vaulted  roofs  has  formed 
stalactites  of  fantastic  shapes.  The  boat  glides  through  the 
arched  entrance,  and  the  glaring  sunshine  without  is  replaced 
by  cool  and  grateful  shade.  Fishes  are  flitting  in  the  clear 
water ;  limpid  streams  oozing  through  the  rocks  form  crystal 
basins  with  pebbly  bottoms ;  and  the  channels  from  the  blue 
sea,  flowing  over  the  chalk,  become  cerulean.  Poetic  fancy 
has  never  pictured  anything  more  enchanting  than  these 
lovely  caves. 

*  '  The  Sea  and  its  Living  Wonders,'  3rd  edit.  p.  49. 


SUBTERRANEAN    WATER-COURSES. 


145 


The  rocky  coast  of  Sicily  is  likewise  hollowed  out  with 
numerous  marine  grottoes,  which,  though  rarely  noticed  by 
travellers,  may  well  be  ranked  amongst  the  greatest  natural 
beauties  of  the  island.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  is  the 
Grotta  di  Nettuno,  near  Syracuse,  which,  in  calm  weather, 
admits  a  boat  to  a  considerable  distance.  Its  rugged  vaults 
rise  to  a  height  of  about  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  and  are 
covered  with  stalactites  wherever  the  water  does  not  reach. 
There  is  no  landing-place,  and  throughout  the  whole  cave 
the  water  is  as  deep  as  in  the  open  sea  beyond.     Nothing 


CAVE   UNDEll  BONIFACIO. 


can  be  more  charming  than  to  look  back  from  the  dark 
recesses  of  the  grotto  upon  the  bright  sunshine  without,  and 
to  listen  to  the  soothing  murmurs  of  the  clear  waves  as  they 
ripple  against  the  rocky  walls.  The  atmosphere  is  so  pure 
in  this  delicious  climate  that  not  a  trace  of  fog  or  mist 
obscures  even  the  remotest  parts  of  the  cave,  and  the  serene 
daylight  falling  through  the  entrance  renders  even  its  deepest 
shadows  translucent.  Here  a  lover  of  nature  might  linger 
for  hours  enjoying  the  most  delicious  coolness,  and  watching 
the  charming  effects  of  light  and  shade  in  their  ever- varying 
play. 


14G  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

On  many  rocky  shores  the  ocean  has  worn  out  subterranean 
channels  in  the  cliffs,  against  which  it  has  been  beating  for 
ages,  and  then  frequently  emerges  in  water-spouts,  or  foun- 
tains, from  the  opposite  end.  Thus  in  the  Skerries,  one  of 
the  Shetland  Islands,  a  deep  chasm  or  inlet,  which  is  open 
overhead,  is  continued  underground,  and  then  again  opens 
to  the  sky  in  the  middle  of  tlie  island.  When  the  tide  is 
high,  the  waves  rise  up  through  this  inland  aperture,  with  a 
noise  like  the  blowing  of  a  whale. 

Similar  phenomena  occur  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mau- 
ritius,* on  the  north  coast  of  Newfoundland,  near  Huatulco 
on  the  Mexican  coast  of  the  Pacific,  and  near  Peniscola,  in 
Spain,  where  a  cave,  through  whose  roof  at  storm  tides  the 
sea  bursts  with  a  terrific  noise,  has  received  the  name  of  the 
'  Bufador,  or  the  water-spout  of  Pope  Luna,'  the  family  name 
of  Benedict  XIII.,  who,  having  been  deposed  by  the  Councils 
of  Pisa  and  Constance,  retired  to  the  small  Spanish  town 
where  he  was  born.  As  the  chief  occupation  of  the  holy 
father  in  exile  was  to  vent  a  continuous  torrent  of  curses 
and  excommunications  upon  his  numerous  enemies,  it  is 
probable  that  this  circumstance  caused  his  name  to  be  given 
to  the  noisy  but  harmless  Bufador. 

Though  water,  aided  by  time,  is  probably  the  chief  exca- 
vating power,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  action  of 
subterranean  fire  has  likewise  produced,  and  still  produces, 
many  hollows  in  the  hard  crust  of  the  earth.  Wherever  a 
volcano  has  been  piled  up  to  the  skies,  the  matter  ejected 
from  its  vents  must  necessarily  have  left  a  void  behind,  and 
given  rise  to  corresponding  cavities  in  the  space  beneath. 
The  shock  of  an  earthquake  must  frequently  rend  asunder 
deep-seated  rocks,  and  the  slow  upheaval  of  considerable 
tracts  of  land  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  take  place  without 
the  formation  of  hollows  and  crevices. 

When  the  lavas  poured  forth  during  an  eruption  are  in  a 
liquid  state,  they  do  not  form  on  cooling  a  compact  homo- 
geneous mass,  but  generally  exhibit  a  porous,  spongy  texture, 
due  to  the  bubbles  of  the  vapour  generated  through,  or 
entangled  in,  their  mass.     These  bubbles  frequently  unite  in 

*  '  The  Sea  and  its  Living  Wonders,'  3rd  edit.  p.  52. 


VOLCANIC    CAVES    OF    PUNTA    DELGADA.  147 

larger  volumes,  which,  influenced  by  their  elasticity  and 
inferior  specific  gravity,  rise  towards  the  surface  of  the  lava 
as  it  flows  on,  and,  when  sufficiently  powerful,  raise  its  crust 
in  dome-like  or  conical  protuberances,  which  not  seldom 
burst  open  at  the  summit,  or  crack  at  the  sides.  The 
hollows  thus  formed  are  often  so  large  as  to  entitle  them  to 
the  name  of  caves. 

According  to  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  the  sudden  conversion  into 
steam  of  lakes  or  streams  of  water,  overwhelmed  by  a  ^.ery 
current,  may  perhaps  explain  the  formation  of  many  of  the 
extensive  underground  passages  or  caverns  which  form  a 
common  feature  in  the  structure  of  a  volcano.  Great 
volumes  of  vapour,  thus  produced,  may  force  their  way 
through  liquid  lava,  already  coated  over  externally  with  a 
solid  crust,  and  may  cause  the  sides  of  such  passages,  as  they, 
harden,  to  assume  a  very  irregular  outline.  The  famous  cave 
on  Etna,  called  the  Fossa  della  Palomba,  which  opens  near 
Nicolosi,  not  far  from  Monte  Rossi,  has  not  improbably  been 
thus  formed.  After  reaching  the  bottom  of  a  hollow  625  feet 
in  circumference  at  its  mouth,  and  78  feet  deep,  the  explorer 
enters  another  dark  cavity,  and  then  others  in  succession, 
sometimes  descending  precipices  by  means  of  ladders.  At 
length  the  vaults  terminate  in  a  great  gallery  ninety  feet 
long,  and  from  fifteen  to  fifty  feet  broad,  beyond  which  there 
is  still  a  passage  never  yet  visited,  so  that  the  whole  extent 
of  the  Fossa  remains  unknown. 

The  volcanic  caves  of  Punta  Delgada  in  the  Island  of  San 
Miguel,  one  of  the  Azores,  are  still  more  grand.  Their 
entrance  is  through  a  narrow  crevice,  which  soon,  however, 
expands  into  an  enormous  hall,  whose  vault  even  the  strongest 
torch-light  is  unable  to  illumine.  In  one  spot,  an  opening 
in  the  floor  shows  that  the  lava,  which  is  here  but  a  foot 
thick,  forms  the  roof  of  a  second  cave,  situated  below  the 
first,  into  which  even  the  boldest  explorer  has  never  ventured, 
but  the  noise  of  stones  cast  into  the  abyss  proves  it  to  be 
of  considerable  size.  The  first-mentioned  cave  leads  into 
another,  the  width  of  which  is  estimated  by  Webster*  at 
120  feet ;  but  the  height  he  was  unable  to  measure.  Gradu- 
ally this    cave  becomes    narrower   and   lower,   until,  about 

*  '  Description  of  the  Island  of  Saint  Michael.' 
l  2 


148  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

450  feet  from  the  entrance,  it  terminates  in  a  low  vanlt. 
Black  lava  stalactites  everywhere  hang  down  from  the  roof, 
and  the  floor  is  so  covered  with  sharp-sided  blocks  of  the 
same  volcanic  material  that  walking  among  them  becomes 
a  task  of  the  greatest  difficulty. 

While  a  lava-stream  is  flowing  along,  a  slag-crust  forms 
on  its  surface,  inclosing  the  internal  fluid  matter  as  in  a 
canal.  But  when  the  supply  of  fresh  lava  from  the  vent 
diminishes  or  entirely  ceases,  the  still  liquid  interior  at  the 
central  part  of  the  current  continuing  for  some  time  to  flow 
on,  often  leaves  behind  hollow  gutters,  arched  over  by  a  thin 
and  brittle  roof — so  thin  sometimes  as  to  yield  to  the  weight 
of  a  person  stepping  on  them.  Such  vaulted  roofs  have 
pseudo-stalactitic  projections  left  by  the  subsidence  of  the 
liquid,  and  are  coated  with  a  glossy  varnish.  Sometimes, 
very  large  caverns  are  thus  formed  beneath  the  surface  of  a 
lava-stream,  and  even  rival  in  their  extent  and  windings  the 
caves  worn  by  water  in  limestone  rocks.  The  famous  Surt- 
shellir,*  situated  near  Kalmanstunga  in  Iceland,  is  a  remark- 
able instance  of  a  vast  lava  excavation  owing  its  origin  to 
this  cause.  It  has  very  appropriately  been  named  after  Surt, 
the  prince  of  darkness  and  fire,  of  the  ancient  Scandinavian 
mythology ;  for  this  gloomy  deity  could  not  possibly  have 
chosen  a  fitter  residence  than  its  vast  and  dismal  halls,  once 
glowing  with  subterranean  fires,  and  now  the  seat  of  per- 
petual darkness. 

*  ' The  Polar  World,'  p.  58. 


140 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CAVE    RIVERS. 

The  Fountain  of  Vaucluse — The  Fontaine-sans-fond — The  Katabothra  in  Morea  — 
Subterranean  Kivers  in  Carniola — Subterranean  Navigation  of  the  Poik  in  the 
Cave  of  Planina — '  The  Stalactital  Paradise ' — The  Piuka  Jama. 

WHEREVER  large  bodies  of  water  gush  forth  in  a  rapid 
stream  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  they  must  either 
have  flowed  through  wide  underground  channels,  or  they 
must  come  from  extensive  lake-like  reservoirs,  for  the  mere 
drainage  of  a  porous  stratum  is  evidently  incapable  of  ac- 
counting for  their  production. 

Thus  the  celebrated  fountain  of  Vaucluse,  near  Avignon, 
which  has  the  volume  and  power  of  a  river  at  its  very  source, 
is  undoubtedly  fed  by  a  subterranean  sheet  of  water  of 
considerable  extent.  Even  when  least  abundant,  it  pours 
forth  upwards  of  13,000  cubic  feet  of  water  in  a  minute  ;  and 
after  the  country  has  been  flooded  with  abundant  rains,  this 
volume  is  increased  fourfold.  The  environs  of  the  fountain 
are  extremely  picturesque,  and  justify  the  praises  which  have 
been  lavished  upon  it  in  the  immortal  strains  of  Petrarch. 
It  fills  a  large  oval  basin,  vaulted  by  a  spacious  cave,  and  its 
waters,  which,  when  low,  escape  through  subterranean  chan- 
nels into  the  deep  bed  of  the  Sorgue,  rise,  when  high,  over 
the  rock- wall  at  the  mouth  of  the  grotto,  and  form  a  broad 
cataract,  rushing  down  with  a  dreadful  noise. 

Near  Sable  in  Anjou,  a  source,  or  rather  a  pit  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-four  feet  in  diameter,  well  known  in  the  country 
under  the  name  of  the  Bottomless  Fountain  (Fontaine-sans- 
fond)  sometimes  overflows  its  brink,  and  then  casts  forth  a 
large  quantity  of  fish,  so  that  it  is  evidently  a  mere  aperture 
in  the  vault  of  a  large  subterranean  pool. 

In  the  department  of  the  Haute  Saone,  another  pit,  called 


150  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

the  Frais  Puits,  presents  a  similar  phenomenon.  After 
abundant  rains,  the  water  gushing  forth  from  its  mouth 
inundates  the  neighbourhood,  and  on  its  retiring,  pikes  are 
not  seldom  found  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  flooded 
fields  or  meadows,  a  sure  proof  that  the  Puits  must  commu- 
nicate with  a  large  subterranean  cavity. 

Nothing  is  more  common  in  limestone  districts  than  the 
engulfment  of  rivers,  which,  after  holding  a  subterranean 
course  of  many  miles,  escape  again  by  some  new  outlet. 
The  Guadiana  loses  itself  in  a  flat  country  in  the  midst  of  an 
immense  savannah,  and  hence  the  Spaniards,  when  the  mag- 
nificent bridges  of  London  or  Paris  are  mentioned  to  them, 
boastfully  reply  that  they  have  one  in  Estramadura  on  which 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  oxen  graze  at  a  time. 

In  the  vast  limestone  formation  which,  under  various 
names,  extends  through  Carinthia,  Carniola,  Istria,  Dalmatia, 
Albania,  and  Greece,  the  whole  country  is  perforated  like  a 
sponge  by  an  intricate  system  of  subterranean  water-courses. 
In  the  more  elevated  districts  of  the  Morea  there  are  many 
deep  land-locked  valleys  or  basins  inclosed  on  all  sides  by 
mountains  of  cavernous  limestone.  When  the  torrents  are 
swollen  by  the  rains,  they  rush  from  the  surrounding  heights 
into  these  basins  ;  but,  instead  of  forming  temporary  lakes,  as 
would  be  the  case  in  most  other  countries,  they  are  swallowed 
by  chasms,  which  are  sometimes  situated  in  the  middle  of  the 
plain,  constituting  the  bottom  of  the  closed  basin,  but  more 
commonly  at  the  foot  of  the  surrounding  escarpment  of 
limestone.  During  the  dry  season,  which  in  Greece  alternates 
almost  as  distinctly  as  between  the  tropics  with  a  period  of 
rain,  these  chasms  are  the  favourite  retreats  of  wild  animals. 

Sometimes,  in  the  limestone  formation,  the  same  stream 
repeatedly  gushes  forth  from  some  cavernous  recess,  and  then 
again  disappears.  The  caves  of  Adelsberg,  Planina,  and 
Upper  Laibach  in  Carniola  are  traversed  by  the  same  river, 
which,  losing  its  name  every  time  it  plunges  into  a  new 
subterranean  channel,  is  called,  first,  the  Poik,  then  the 
Unz,  and  finally  the  Laibach.  In  the  same  manner  the 
Temenitz,  an  affluent  of  the  Save,  thrice  disappears  under 
the  earth,  and  thrice  emerges  as  a  new-born  river  with 
another  name. 


CAVE    OF    PLANINA.  151 

As  far  as  these  subterranean  streams  have  been  explored, 
their  course  exhibits  a  wonderful  variety  of  interesting  under- 
ground scenery.  Sometimes  they  form  high  cataracts,  leaping 
over  rocks  so  picturesquely  grouped  that,  were  they  illumined 
by  the  sun,  and  of  more  easy  access,  they  would  be  admired 
by  numberless  tourists;  and  not  seldom  they  expand  into 
dark  and  melancholy  lakes.  Sometimes  they  with  difficulty 
force  a  passage  through  a  chaos  of  rocks,  and  then  again  they 
flow  gently  in  a  deep  and  even  channel,  so  as  to  be  navigable 
to  a  considerable  distance.  Generally,  not  the  least  breath 
of  air  sweeps  over  their  placid  waters,  but  sometimes  their 
surface  is  rippled  by  the  wind  pouring  in  through  some  unseen 
chasm. 

Among  the  bold  explorers  who  have  launched  forth 
their  barques  on  unknown  subterranean  rivers,  the  late 
Adolph  Schmidl,  of  Vienna,  holds  a  conspicuous  rank.  In 
a.  canoe  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose  he  trusted 
himself  to  the  dark  streams  of  Carniola,  which  rewarded 
his  adventurous  zeal  with  many  a  scene  of  incomparable 
beauty,  where  the  water-spirits  and  the  gnomes  seemed 
to  have  rivalled  each  other  in  the  work  of  decoration.  To 
give  an  idea  of  the  difficulties  and  of  the  enjoyments  of  these 
subterranean  explorations,  we  will  follow  the  intrepid  natura- 
list on  his  voyages  of  discovery  through  the  famous  Cave  of 
Planina,  through  which  flows  the  Poik,  a  river  which  is 
at  all  times  deep  enough  to  carry  a  boat.  The  course  of  the 
navigation  is  stream-upwards,  and  consequently  much  safer 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case ;  but  in  many  places 
the  rapidity  of  the  current  calls  for  great  caution,  and 
considerable  strength  is  needed  to  overcome  its  violence  ; 
while  at  the  same  time  great  care  must  be  taken  to  avoid 
striking  against  the  rocks  that  lie  hidden  under  the  water. 
As  far  as  the  end  of  a  magnificent  dome,  situated  about  600 
feet  from  its  entrance,  the  cave  can  be  traversed  on  foot ;  but 
here  the  sullen  stream,  completely  filling  its  whole  width, 
compels  the  explorer  to  trust  to  his  canoe.  When  he  has 
passed  a  portal  about  eight  fathoms  high  and  half  as  broad, 
with  proportions  as  symmetrical  as  if  it  had  been  sculptured 
by  the  hand  of  man,  the  thundering  roar  of  a  distant  cata- 
ract announces  still  grander  scenes.     The  portal  widens,  and 


152  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  astonished  explorer  suddenly  emerges  on  a  lake  250  feet 
long  and  150  feet  broad,  beyond  which  the  cave  is  seen  to 
divide  into  two  arms,  giving  passage  to  two  streams,  whose 
confluent  waters  form  the  lake.  This  broad  sheet  of  water 
affords  an  imposing  but  melancholy  sight.  The  walls  of  the 
cave  rise  everywhere  abruptly  out  of  the  water,  with  the 
exception  of  one  small  landing-place  opposite  to  the  portal  at 
the  foot  of  a  projecting  rock  or  promontory.  Here  and  there 
large  masses  of  stalactite  hang  like  petrified  cascades  from 
the  rocks,  which  are  generally  naked  and  black.  The  vault 
is  so  high  that  the  light  of  a  few  torches  fails  to  pierce  its 
gloom,  which  is  rendered  still  more  impressive  by  the  roar 
of  the  waterfall  in  the  left  branch  of  the  cavern. 

As  far  as  the  lake,  the  cave  is  of  comparatively  easy  access, 
and  has  been  repeatedly  visited,  but  the  subterranean  course 
of  the  two  brooks  beyond  was  first  explored  by  Dr.  Schmidl. 
In  the  left  or  western  branch  of  the  cave,  into  which  he 
penetrated  to  a  distance  of  more  than  a  mile,  his  boat  had  to 
be  unloaded  no  less  than  eleven  times  on  account  of  the  reefs 
that  obstructed  its  passage,  while  the  explorers,  wading 
through  the  water,  dragged  it  over  the  shallows.  Once  even, 
where  the  navigation  was  interrupted  by  large  masses  of 
rock,  under  which  the  tumultuous  waters  disappear  with  a 
dreadful  roar,  they  were  obliged  to  take  the  little  shallop  to 
pieces,  and  to  reconstruct  it  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
mound.  The  navigable  part  of  this  western  branch  ends  in 
a  circular  dome,  the  floor  of  which  is  entirely  filled  with  a 
lake  180  feet  long,  and  from  40  to  45  feet  deep.  On  the 
western  bank  of  this  lake,  a  chasm  opens  at  the  top  of  a 
mound  of  rubbish,  the  only  place  where  it  is  possible  to  land. 
A  violent  gust  of  wind  descends  from  this  chasm,  which, 
sloping  upwards,  soon  narrows  to  a  small  crevice,  through 
which  the  current  of  air  sets  in. 

To  a  lateral  gallery,  opening  beyond  the  mouth  of  the 
chasm,  Dr.  Schmidl  gave  the  name  of  '  The  Stalactital 
Paradise,'  on  account  of  the  uncommon  beauty  of  the  spar- 
crystals  with  which  its  walls  were  incrusted.  It  was  the  first 
time  that  the  foot  of  man  had  ever  penetrated  into  this  charm- 
ing laboratory  of  nature ;  no  torch  had  ever  soiled  its  brilliant 
decorations  ;  no  profane  hand  had  ever  damaged  its  gem-like 


EXPLORATIONS    OF    ADOLFH    SCHMIDL.  153 

tapestry.  Here  whole  groups  of  stalagmitic  cones,  of  all 
shapes  and  sizes,  some  like  tiny  icicles,  others  six  feet  high 
and  as  thick  as  a  man's  waist,  rose  from  the  ground,  while 
further  on  the  brown  wall  formed  a  dark  background,  from 
which  projected  in  bold  relief  the  colossal  statue  of  a  scep- 
tered  king.  Near  the  entrance  stood  a  magnificent  white 
figure,  which  fancy  might  have  supposed  to  be  a  cherub  with 
a  flaming  sword,  menacing  all  those  who  should  dare  to 
injure  the  wonders  which  he  guarded. 

6 "  The  Stalactical  Paradise "  remained  intact,'  says  Dr. 
SclimidL*  *  I  begged  my  companions  not  to  strike  off  the 
smallest  piece  of  spar  as  a  memorial  of  our  visit,  and  they 
all  joyfully  consented.  Our  feet  carefully  avoided  trampling 
down  any  of  its  delicate  ornaments  ;  we  left  it  with  no  other 
memorial  than  our  admiration  of  its  beauty.  The  nymphs 
of  the  grot  will  no  doubt  have  pardoned  us  for  having 
intruded  upon  the  sanctuary,  where  for  countless  centuries 
they  had  reigned  in  undisturbed  solitude  and  silence.' 

The  eastern  branch  of  the  cave,  through  which  the  main 
stream  flows,  is  much  larger  than  the  branch  above  described; 
it  is  also  easily  navigated,  as  it  contains  but  two  reefs  and  a 
small  number  of  cliffs.  On  first  ascending  the  stream,  the 
continually  increasing  roar  of  waters  announces  a  consider- 
able waterfall.  Enormous  masses  of  stone,  piled  up  by  the 
falling  in  of  the  roof,  have  blocked  up  and  narrowed  the  bed 
of  the  river  to  fifteen  feet,  and  cause  the  stream  to  shoot  down 
in  a  broad  sheet  ten  feet  high.  The  cataract,  madly  rushing 
over  the  jet-black  rocks  and  casting  up  flakes  of  milk-white 
foam,  is  very  beautiful,  and,  when  brightly  illuminated,  must 
produce  a  truly  magical  effect. 

Beyond  the  cataract  the  river  flows  for  a  short  space  in  an 
invisible  channel,  as  its  waters  are  completely  hidden  under 
rocks.  It  was  no  easy  task  to  carry  the  planks  of  the  dis- 
membered boat  over  these  rugged  blocks  of  stone,  but  after 
reconstructing  it  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  mound,  and  over- 
coming the  minor  obstacles  of  a  couple  of  reefs,  the  river  was 
found  to  flow  in  a  deep  channel  between  steep  walls,  and  a 
free  navigation  opened  to  a  distance  of  at  least  a  league  and 
a  half. 

*  '  Die  Hohlenkunde  des  Karstes.'     Wien,  1854. 


154  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

'  No  description,'  said  Dr.  Schmidl,  '  can  do  justice  to  the 
fascination  of  this  subterranean  voyage.  In  some  parts  the 
roof  is  adorned  with  coral-shaped  draperies  of  snow-white 
stalactites,  but  generally  the  walls  are  mere  black,  naked 
stone.  Here  and  there  sources  gurgle  down  their  sides,  and, 
along  with  the  melancholy  trickling  of  single  drops  of  water 
from  the  vault,  alone  break  the  silence  of  the  dark  inter- 
minable cave.  The  breathless  attention  we  bestowed  on  the 
guidance  of  our  boat  and  on  the  wonders  that  surrounded  us 
sealed  our  lips,  and  we  glided  silently  along  through  the 
dark  waters,  that  now,  for  the  first  time  since  they  began  to 
flow,  reflected  the  glare  of  a  torch.' 

Throughout  the  whole  distance  of  1,140  fathoms  beyond 
the  second  reef,  there  is  but  one  landing-place ;  everywhere 
else  the  walls  rise  precipitously  from  the  water.  In  some 
parts  the  roof  descends  so  low  that  the  explorers  were 
obliged  to  lie  down  in  the  boat  and  to  shove  it  along  by 
holding  to  the  projections  of  the  vault,  which  finally  left  but 
a  few  inches'  space  above  the  water,  and  thus  opposed  an 
invincible  obstacle  to  all  further  progress. 

In  another  grotto — called  the  Piuka  Jama — the  Poik 
again  flows  in  the  midst  of  the  grandest  subterranean 
scenery.  About  a  league  to  the  north  of  Adelsberg,  the 
wanderer,  after  traversing  a  thicket  of  underwood,  suddenly 
finds  himself  on  the  brink  of  a  yawning  precipice,  from  the 
bottom  of  which  is  heard  distinctly  the  noise  of  a  rushing 
stream.  The  walls  of  the  chasm  are  almost  perpendicular, 
except  where  a  small  ravine,  overgrown  with  shrubs,  leads  to 
an  enormous  rock,  on  which  it  is  possible  to  stand,  and,  if 
perfectly  free  from  giddiness,  to  look  down  into  the  gulf 
below,  where  the  huge  portal  of  a  cave  is  seen  to  open. 

From  this  rock,  which  projects  over  the  abyss,  the  only 
descent  is  by  means  of  a  rope  or  a  rope-ladder.  The  bottom 
of  the  pit  is  covered  with  large  blocks  of  stone  irregularly 
piled  up,  and  here  one  first  sees  the  river  rushing  through 
the  cave  from  right  to  left.  The  Piuka  Jama  may  thus  be 
compared  to  a  window  pierced  through  a  vault  overspanning 
a  subterranean  stream.  Clambering  down  a  heap  of  rubbish, 
the  explorer  at  length  stands  upon  the  floor  of  the  cave,  and 
reaches  the  bank  of  the  Poik,     Stream-upwards,  about  300 


GROTTO    OF    P1UKA   JAMA.  155 

fathoms  from  the  aperture,  he  meets  with  a  rock  gate,  through 
which  the  river  rushes  so  violently  that  a  boat  can  master 
the  current  only  when  the  water  is  unusually  low. 

After  crossing  this  broad  portal,  the  last  faint  traces  of 
daylight  glimmering  from  the  distant  aperture  in  the  Piuka 
entirely  disappear,  and  the  sc3ne  suddenly  changes.  The 
expanding  cavern  assumes  the  proportions  of  an  imposing 
dome.  On  its  left  side  a  mound  has  been  formed  by  the  falling 
in  of  the  roof ;  but  every  block  of  stone  is  completely  covered 
with  calcareous  incrustations  of  the  purest  white.  From 
the  floor  to  the  centre  of  the  vault  millions  upon  millions  of 
brilliant  spars  reflect  the  light :  every  hollow  in  the  walls  is 
a  cabinet  of  gems.  The  background  of  the  dome  completes 
the  beauty  of  the  scene,  and  exhibits  one  of  the  most  im- 
posing cavern  decorations  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  A  mon- 
strous pillar  rises  from  its  centre,  forming  two  colossal 
ogival  portals.  The  larger  one  is  on  the  left,  and  at  its 
entrance  a  mighty  stalagmite,  above  twelve  feet  high,  seems  to 
forbid  intrusion.  The  pillar  itself  and  the  vaults  of  both  the 
portals  are  ornamented  with  the  richest  stalactital  drapery. 

When  the  river  is  swollen  it  rushes  tumultuously  through 
both  the  gates,  where  now  Dr.  Schmidl  found  but  a  scanty 
rill  whispering  and  babbling  among  the  stones. 


156  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

SUBTERRANEAN    LIFE. 

Subterranean  Vegetation — Fungi — Enormous  Fungus  in  a  Tunnel  near  Doncaster 
— Artificial  Mushroom-beds  near  Paris — Subterranean  Animals — The  Guacharo 
— Wholesale  Slaughter — Insects  in  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg — The  Leptodirus  and 
the  Blothrus — The  Stalita  taenaria — The  Olm  or  Proteus — The  Lake  of  Cirk- 
nitz — The  Archduke  Ferdinand  and  Charon — The  Blind  Rat  and  the  Blind  Fish 
of  the  Mammoth  Care. 

OF  all  the  phenomena  which  attract  the  naturalist's  atten- 
tion, as  he  wanders  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  there 
is  none  which  makes  a  deeper  impression  on  his  mind  than 
the  omnipresence  of  life.  On  the  snow-clad  cone  of  Chimbo- 
razo,  18,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  Humboldt  found 
butterflies  and  other  winged  insects,  while,  high  over  his 
head,  the  condor  was  soaring  in  solitary-  majesty.  At  the 
still  greater  elevation  of  18,460  feet,  at  the  Doonkiah  Pass 
in  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  Dr.  Hooker  plucked  flowering 
plants,  and  saw  large  flocks  of  wild  geese  winging  their  flight 
above  Kunchinjinga  (22,750  feet)  towards  the  unknown  re- 
gions of  Central  Asia.  Thus  man  meets  with  life  as  far  as 
he  is  able  to  ascend,  or  as  far  as  his  sight  plunges  into  the 
atmospheric  ocean.  Besides  the  objects  visible  to  his  eye, 
innumerable  microscopical  organisms  pervade  the  realms  of 
air.  According  to  Ehrenberg's  brilliant  discovery,  the  im- 
palpably  fine  dust  which,  wafted  by  the  Harmattan,  often 
falls  on  ships  when  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  coast  of 
Africa,  consists  of  agglomerations  of  silica-coated  diatoms, 
individually  so  small  as  to  be  invisible  to  the  naked  eye; 
and  everywhere  numberless  minute  germs  of  future  life — eggs 
of  insects  and  sporules  of  cryptogamic  plants — well  fitted  by 
cilia  and  feathery  crowns  for  an  aerial  journey,  float  up  and 
down  in  the  atmosphere ;  while  the  waters  of  ocean  are 
found,  in  like  manner,  filled  with  myriads  of  animated  atoms. 


SUBTERRANEAN    VEGETATION.  157 

But  organic  life  not  only  occupies  those  parts  of  our  globe 
which  are  accessible  to  solar  light ;  it  also  dives  profoundly 
into  the  subterranean  world,  wherever  rain,  or  the  melted 
snow,  filtering  through  the  porous  earth,  or  through  vents 
and  crevices,  is  able  to  penetrate  into  natural  caverns  or 
artificial  mines.  For  the  combination  of  moisture,  warmth, 
and  air  is  able  to  develop  organic  life  even  thousands  of  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  while  light,  though  indis- 
pensable to  most  creatures,  would  blight  and  destroy  the 
inhabitants  of  the  subterranean  vaults. 

On  surveying  the  flora  of  these  dismal  recesses,  we  find  it 
consisting  exclusively  of  mushrooms  or  fungi,  the  lowest 
forms  of  vegetation,  which,  shunning  the  light,  love  darkness 
and  damp.  Their  appearance  in  the  caves  is,  as  everywhere 
else,  dependent  upon  the  existence  of  an  organic  basis,  and 
thus  they  are  most  commonly  found  germinating  on  pieces 
of  wood,  particularly  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  which  have 
been  conveyed  into  the  caverns  either  through  the  agency  of 
man  or  by  the  influx  of  water.  Species  of  a  peculiarly  luxu- 
riant growth  are  sometimes  seen  to  spread  over  the  neigh- 
bouring stones,  or  apparently  to  spring  from  the  rocky 
ground,  where,  however,  on  closer  inspection,  vestiges  of 
decayed  organic  substances  will  generally  be  detected. 

Thus  vegetation  in  caves  most  commonly  keeps  pace  with 
the  quantity  of  mouldering  wood  which  they  contain,  and 
flourishes  not  only  near  their  entrance  but  in  their  deepest 
recesses,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg,  where,  at 
a  distance  of  more  than  a  thousand  fathoms  from  its  entrance, 
the  pegs  which  have  been  driven  into  the  stalactital  walls 
for  the  purpose  of  measuring  its  length  are  covered  with  a 
rich  coat  of  fungi.  Nothing  can  be  more  curious  than  to  see 
these  plants,  thriving  and  luxuriating  in  deep  stillness  and 
gloom,  under  circumstances  so  alien  to  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions of  life.  Among  the  fungi  found  in  caves,  many  also 
vegetate  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  exposed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  light,  and  not  seldom  degenerate  into  monstrous 
forms  in  their  less  congenial  subterranean  abodes;  but 
many  are  the  exclusive  children  of  darkness.  The  Austrian 
naturalist  Scopoli  published  in  1772  the  first  exact  descrip- 
tion  of    more  than  seventy   subterranean   fungi,    collected 


158  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

chiefly  in  the  mines  of  Schemnitz  and  Idria;  and  about 
twenty  years  later  Humboldt  wrote  his  celebrated  treatise 
on  the  same  subject.*  Since  then  G.  F.  Hoffmann  has  de- 
scribed the  subterranean  flora  of  the  Harz  Mountains  ;  f  and 
latterly  the  botanists  Welwitsch  and  Pokorny  have  examined 
the  caves  of  Carinthia,  where  they  discovered  no  less  thau 
eighteen  species  of  fungi,  among  others  the  mouse-tail 
mushroom  (Agaricus  myurus,  Hoffm.),  which  is  also  found  in 
the  Harz,  and  bears  on  a  slender  hairy  stalk,  more  than  a  foot 
long,  a  small  hat,  scarcely  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
Some  of  these  fungi  are  remarkable  for  their  size  (Thelephora 
rubiginosa  sanguinolenta),  others  for  their  elegance  (Diderma 
nigripes). 

Some  years  ago  a  gigantic  fungus,  found  growing  from 
the  woodwork  of  a  tunnel  near  Doncaster,  afforded  a  striking 
proof  of  the  luxuriancy  of  subterranean  vegetation.  It 
measured  no  less  than  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  and  was,  in 
its  way,  as  great  a  curiosity  as  one  of  the  colossal  trees  of 
California. 

Even  the  plants  that  flourish  in  the  darkness  of  caves 
have  been  rendered  subservient  to  our  use.  The  cultivation 
of  the  edible  mushroom  in  spacious  caverns  or  ancient 
quarries  is  practised  to  a  great  extent  in  the  environs  of 
Paris,  at  Arcueil,  Moulin  de  la  Roche,  and  St.  Germain,  but 
particularly  at  Montrouge,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  city. 
The  mushroom-beds  are  entirely  underground,  seventy  or 
eighty  feet  below  the  surface,  at  a  depth  where  the  tempera- 
ture is  nearly  uniform  all  the  year  round.  These  extensive 
catacombs,  formed  by  long  burrowing  galleries,  have  no 
opening  but  by  a  circular  shaft,  to  be  descended  by  clamber- 
ing down  a  perpendicular  pole  or  mast,  into  the  sides  of 
which  large  wooden  pegs  are  fixed,  at  intervals  of  ten  or 
twelve  inches,  to  rest  the  feet  upon. 

The  baskets  containing  the  ripe  mushrooms  are  hoisted 
from  below  by  a  pulley  and  rope.  The  compost  in  which 
they  grow  consists  of  a  white  gritty  earth,  mixed  with  good 
stable  manure,  and  is  moulded  into  narrow  beds  about  twenty 
inches  high,  ranged  along  the  sides  of  the  passages  or  gal- 

*  '  Flora  Fribergensis  Plantas  Oyptogamicas  prsesertim  subterraneas  exhibens. 
f  '  Vegetabilia  in  Hcrcynise  Subterraneis  collecta  Norinbergse.'     1811. 


SUBTERRANEAN    ANIMAL    LIFE.  159 

leries,  and  kept  exquisitely  neat  and  smooth.  The  mushroom 
sporules  are  introduced  to  the  beds  either  by  flakes  of  earth 
taken  from  an  old  bed,  or  else  from  a  heap  of  decomposing 
stable  manure  in  which  mushrooms  have  naturally  been  en- 
gendered. The  beds  are  covered  with  a  layer  of  earth  an 
inch  thick,  the  earth  being  merely  the  white  rubbish  left  by 
the  stone-cutters  above.  They  must  be  well  watered,  and 
removed  after  two  or  three  months,  when  their  bearing 
qualities  are  exhausted.  In  one  of  the  caves  at  Montrouge 
alone  there  are  six  or  seven  miles  of  mushroom-bedding,  a 
proof  that  this  branch  of  industry  is  by  no  means  unim- 
portant. 

While  subterranean  vegetation  is  exclusively  confined  to 
mushrooms,  animal  life  of  almost  every  class  has  far  more 
abundant  representatives,  for  plants  are  in  general  much 
more  dependent  on  the  vivifying  influence  of  light. 

The  various  animals  which  are  found  dwelling  in  caves 
may  be  subdivided  into  two  groups ;  one,  which,  though  pre- 
ferring darkness,  and  spending  a  great  part  of  its  existence 
under  the  earth,  yet  often  voluntarily  seeks  the  light  of 
day,  or  at  least  wanders  forth  at  night ;  while  the  other  is 
exclusively  subterranean,  and  is  never  seen  above  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  unless  by  chance  or  when  driven  up  by  violence. 

To  the  first  group  belong  most  of  the  insectivorous  and 
rodent  quadrupeds  that  dwell  in  self-made  burrows,  or  pursue 
a  subterranean  prey,  such  as  the  armadilloes  and  the  moles. 
The  large  family  of  the  bats  likewise  love  to  sleep  by  day,  or 
to  hibernate  in  warm  and  solitary  caves,  where  they  are 
sometimes  found  in  numbers  as  countless  as  the  sea-birds 
which  flock  round  some  rocky  island  of  the  north.  When 
Professor  Silliman  visited  the  Mammoth  Cave  (October  16, 
1822),  he  everywhere  saw  them  suspended  in  dense  clusters 
from  the  roofs,  though  a  large  number  had  not  yet  retired 
into  winter-quarters.  In  a  small  space,  scarcely  four  or  five 
inches  square,  he  counted  no  less  than  forty  bats,  and  con- 
vinced himself  that  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty  find 
room  on  a  square  foot,  as  they  held  not  only  by  the  surface 
of  the  walls  of  their  retreat,  but  by  each  other,  one  closely 
crowding  over  another.  Such  clusters  are  found  in  the 
interior  of  the  cavern,  which  branches  out  in  many  directions 


160  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

as  far  as  two  miles  from  the  entrance,  so  that  a  very  super- 
ficial survey  allows  them  to  be  counted  by  millions.  Who, 
in  these  dismal  regions,  where  no  change  of  temperature 
or  of  light  announces  the  various  seasons,  tells  them  that 
the  reign  of  winter  is  past  ?  who  awakes  them  at  the  proper 
time  out  of  the  deep  sleep  in  which  they  remain  plunged 
for  months  ?  The  same  mysterious  voice  of  instinct  which 
regulates  the  migrations  of  the  birds  and  the  wanderings  of 
the  fishes,  and  which  in  this  case,  as  in  every  other,  is 
equally  wonderful  and  incomprehensible. 

In  the  class  of  birds  we  find  many  cave -haunting  species. 
The  pigeons  like  to  nestle  in  grottoes,  which  also  serve  as 
welcome  retreats  to  the  moping  owl ;  and  various  swallows 
and  swifts  breed  chiefly  in  the  darkness  of  caverns.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  troglodytic  birds  is  the 
Guacharo,  which  inhabits  a  large  cave  in  the  Valley  of  Caripe, 
near  the  town  of  Cumana,  and  of  which  an  interesting 
account  has  been  given  by  Humboldt,  who  first  introduced 
it  to  the  notice  of  Europe. 

The  Gueva  del  Guacharo  is  pierced  in  the  vertical  profile  of 
a  rock,  and  the  entrance  is  towards  the  south,  forming  a 
noble  vault  eighty  feet  broad  and  seventy- two  feet  high.  The 
rock  surmounting  the  cavern  is  covered  with  trees  of  gigantic 
growth,  and  all  the  luxuriant  profusion  of  an  inter-tropical 
vegetation.  Plantain-leaved  heliconias,  and  wondrous  orchids, 
the  Praga  palm,  and  tree  arums,  grow  along  the  banks  of 
a  river  that  flows  out  of  the  cave,  while  lianas,  and  a 
variety  of  creeping  plants,  rocked  to  and  fro  by  the  wind, 
form  elegant  festoons  before  its  entrance.  What  a  contrast 
between  this  magnificently  decorated  portal  and  the  gloomy 
mouth  of  the  Surtshellir,  imbedded  in  the  lava  wildernesses 
of  Iceland  ?  As  the  cave  at  first  penetrates  into  the  moun- 
tain in  a  straight  direction,  the  light  of  day  does  not  dis- 
appear for  a  considerable  distance  from  the  entrance,  so  that 
visitors  are  able  to  go  forward  for  about  four  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  without  being  obliged  to  light  their  torches ;  and 
here,  where  light  begins  to  fail,  the  hoarse  cries  of  the  noc- 
turnal birds  are  heard  from  afar. 

The  guacharo  is  of  the  size  of  the  common  fowl.  Its  hooked 
bill  is  wide,  like  that  of  the  goat-sucker,  and  furnished  at  the 


THE   GUACHARO   CAVERN.  161 

base  with  stiff  hairs  directed  forwards.  The  plumage,  like 
that  of  most  nocturnal  birds,  is  sombre  brownish  grey,  mixed 
with  black  stripes  and  large  white  spots.  The  eyes  are  in- 
capable of  bearing  the  light  of  day,  and  the  wings  are  dis- 
proportionately large,  measuring  not  less  than  four  feet  and 
a  half  from  tip  to  tip.  It  quits  the  cavern  only  at  nightfall, 
especially  when  there  is  moonlight ;  and  Humboldt  remarks 
that  it  is  almost  the  only  frugivorous  nocturnal  bird  yet 
known,  for  it  does  not  prey  npon  insects  like  the  goat- 
sucker, but  feeds  on  very  hard  fruits,  which  its  strong  hooked 
beak  is  well  fitted  to  crack.  The  horrible  noise  made  by 
thousands  of  these  birds  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  cavern  can 
be  compared  only  to  the  wild  shrieks  of  the  sea-mews  round 
a  solitary  bird  mountain,  or  to  the  deafening  uproar  of  the 
crows  when  assembled  in  vast  flocks  in  the  dark  fir-forests 
of  the  North.  The  clamour  increases  on  advancing  deeper 
into  the  cave,  the  birds  being  disturbed  by  the  torch-light ; 
and  as  those  nestling  in  the  side  avenues  of  the  cave  begin 
to  utter  their  mournful  cries  when  the  first  sink  into  silence, 
it  seems  as  if  their  troops  were  alternately  complaining  to 
each  other  of  the  intruders.  By  fixing  torches  to  the  end  of 
long  poles,  the  Indians,  who  serve  as  guides  into  the  cavern, 
show  the  nests  of  these  birds,  fifty  or  sixty  feet  above  the 
heads  of  the  explorers,  in  funnel-shaped  holes  with  which 
the  cavern  roof  is  pierced  like  a  sieve. 

Once  a  year,  about  midsummer,  the  Guacharo  Cavern  is 
entered  by  the  Indians.  Armed  with  poles  they  ransack  the 
greater  part  of  the  nests,  while  the  old  birds,  uttering 
lamentable  cries,  hover  over  the  heads  of  the  robbers.  The 
young  which  fall  down  are  opened  on  the  spot.  The  peri- 
toneum is  found  loaded  with  fat,  and  a  layer  of  the  same 
substance  reaches  from  the  abdomen  to  the  vent,  forming  a 
kind  of  cushion  between  the  birds'  legs.  The  European  noc- 
turnal birds  are  meagre,  as,  instead  of  feasting  on  fruits  and 
oily  kernels,  they  live  upon  the  scanty  produce  of  the  chase ; 
while  in  the  guacharo,  as  in  our  fattened  geese,  the  accumu- 
lation of  fat  is  promoted  by  darkness  and  abundant  food. 
At  the  period  above  mentioned,  which  is  known  at  Caripe  as 
the  '  oil  harvest,'  huts  are  erected  by  the  Indians  with  palm 
leaves  near  the  entrance,  and  even  in  the  very  porch  of  the 

M 


162  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

cavern.  There  the  fat  of  the  young  birds  just  killed  is 
melted  in  clay  pots  over  a  brushwood  fire,  and  is  said  to  be 
very  pure  and  of  a  good  taste.  Its  small  quantity,  however, 
is  quite  out  of  proportion  to  the  numbers  killed,  as  not  more 
than  150  or  160  jars  of  perfectly  clear  oil  are  collected  from 
the  massacre  of  thousands. 

The  way  into  the  interior  of  the  cavern  leads  along  the 
banks  of  the  small  river  which  flows  through  its  dark 
recesses ;  but  sometimes  large  masses  of  stalactites  obstruct 
the  passage,  and  force  the  visitor  to  wade  through  the  water, 
which  is,  however,  not  more  than  two  feet  deep.  As  far  as 
1,458  feet  from  the  entrance  the  cave  maintains  the  same 
direction,  width,  and  height  of  sixty  or  seventy  feet,  so  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  another  mountain  cavern  of  so  regu- 
lar a  formation.  Humboldt  had  great  difficulty  in  persuading 
the  natives  to  pass  beyond  the  part  of  the  cave  which  they 
usually  visit  to  collect  the  oil,  as  they  believed  its  deeper 
penetralia  to  be  the  abode  of  their  ancestors'  spirits ;  but  since 
the  great  naturalist's  visit,  they  seem  to  have  abandoned  their 
ancient  superstitions,  or  to  have  acquired  a  greater  courage  in 
facing  the  mysteries  of  the  grotto,  for,  while  they  would  only 
accompany  Humboldt  as  far. as  236  fathoms  into  the  interior 
of  the  cave,  later  travellers,  such  as  Codazzi  and  Beaupertuis, 
have  advanced  with  their  guides  to  double  the  distance, 
though  without  reaching  its  end.  They  found  that  beyond 
the  furthest  point  explored  by  Humboldt  the  cave  loses  its 
regularity,  and  has  its  walls  covered  with  stalactites.  In  the 
embranchments  of  the  grotto  Codazzi  found  innumerable 
birds.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that  the  guacharo  was 
exclusively  confined  to  this  cave ;  latterly,  however,  it  has 
also  been  found  in  the  province  of  Bogota. 

The  discovery  of  animals  adapted  for  perpetual  darkness 
is  but  of  modern  date,  and  as  the  vast  majority  of  caves  have 
not  yet  been  thoroughly  explored  by  zoologists,  the  number 
of  genera  and  species  already  known  gives  us  reason  to 
believe  that  future  investigations  will  add  considerably  to 
their  number.  In  the  Adelsberg,  Lueg,  and  Magdalena 
grottoes,  which  form  but  an  inconsiderable  part  of  the 
extensive  cavernous  regions  of  Carniola,  seven  exclusively 
subterranean    insects,    one    spider,   two    scorpionides,    one 


CAVERN   BEETLES.  163 

millepede,  two  crustaceans,  one  snail,  and  one  reptile — in  all 
fifteen  different  species  of  animals,  belonging  to  no  less  than 
six  different  classes — have  been  found. 

Among  these  dwellers  of  the  dark,  warfare  is  as  rife 
as  in  the  regions  of  light.  Thus,  in  the  recesses  of  the 
Grotto  of  Adelsberg,  the  cavern  beetle  (Leptodirus  Hochen- 
wartii)  is  persecuted  and  devoured  by  the  scorpioniform 
Blothrus  spelceus,  and  by  the  eyeless  spider  (Stalita  tcen- 
aria).     The  black  and  brown  Leptodirus  discovered  in   the 


LKPTODIKUS  HOCHENWARTII. 


Grotto  of  Adelsberg  in  1831,  by  Count  Hochenwart,  is  dis- 
tinguished by  long  and  delicate  antennae  and  legs,  and 
comparatively  small  translucent  and  smooth  elytra.  The 
unique  specimen  found  at  the  time  was  unfortunately  lost, 
and  although  twenty-five  florins  were  offered  to  the  cavern 
guides  for  one  of  these  beetles,  fourteen  years  passed  before 
it  was  re-discovered  in  the  same  cave.  Since  then  other 
collectors  have  been  more  fortunate,  particularly  Prince 
Robert  Khevenhiiller,  who,  during  his  repeated  visits  to  the 
Cave  of  Adelsberg,  captured  no  less  than  twenty  specimens  of 
the  Leptodirus. 

Cautiously  feeling  its  way  with  its  long  antennae,  the 
beetle  slowly  ascends  the  damp  stalactital  columns,  and  accele- 
rates its  movements  at  the  approach  of  a  light.  The  greater 
number  were  found  in  the  evening,  thus  giving  reason  for 
supposing  that  the  Leptodirus  is  a  noctural  beetle,  although  it 
is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  how  the  alternating  influence  of 
night  and  day  can  still  be  felt  in  these  regions  of  darkness. 
The  manner  in  which  it  is  pursued  by  the  eyeless  Blothrus 
(discovered  in  1833,  by  Mr.  F.  Schmidt),  has  been  several 
times  observed  by  Prince  Khevenhiiller.     He  once  saw  one 

M    2 


164  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

of  these  cavern  scorpions  slowly  crawling  along,  stretching 
out  its  palpi  in  all  directions,  and  evidently  on  the  search. 
He  immediately  guessed  that  the  animal  was  engaged  in  a 
hunting  expedition,  and  soon  found  that  he  was  not  mis- 
taken, for  a  fine  Leptodirus  was  crawling  about  four  feet 
higher  on  the  opposite  wall.  For  a  long  time  the  Prince 
left  the  two  insects  undisturbed,  until  he  had  thoroughly 
convinced  himself  that  the  movements  of  the  Blothrus  were 
evidently  regulated  by  those  of  the  Leptodirus,  and  that  the 
former  was,  beyond  all  doubt,  in  pursuit  of  the  beetle.  A 
Leptodirus  having  been  thrown  along  with  a  Blothrus  into  a 
phial,  was  immediately  cut  to  pieces  and  devoured. 

The  eyeless  cavern  spider  (Stalita  tcenaria),  with 
brownish  palpse  and  a  snow-white  abdomen,  is  not  seldom 
found  in  the  hollows  of  the  stalactites,  lying  in  wait  for 
the  unfortunate  Leptodirus.  On  the  surface  of  the  earth 
spiders  are  frequently  obliged  to  fast  for  a  very  long  time ; 
but  in  caverns  where  life  is  so  sparingly  distributed,  the 
patience  of  the  Stalita  must  be  exemplary,  even  among  spiders. 
Her  appearance  on  the  snow-white  stalactital  columns,  where 
she  only  becomes  visible  when  illumined  by  the  full  light 
of  a  taper,*  is  very  striking.  Like  a  vision,  she  sweeps 
away  in  her  ivory  robe,  accompanied  by  her  increasing 
shadow,  until  she  finally  disappears  in  the  darkness. 

But  the  largest  and  most  interesting  of  all  the  European 
cave  animals  is  undoubtedly  the  Olm  (Proteus  anguinus; 
Hypochthon) .  This  enigmatic  reptile  was  first  found  in  the 
famous  Lake  of  Cirknitz,  which,  communicating  with  un- 
merous  subterranean  caves,  alternately  receives  and  loses  its 
waters  through  openings  in  the  rock.  After  long  and  heavy 
rains  the  floods,  which  the  hidden  vaults  are  no  longer  able 
to  contain,  gush  forth  in  foaming  cataracts,  and  the  lake, 
which  generally  forms  but  a  long  and  narrow  channel,  then 
swells  to  at  least  three  times  its  ordinary  width.  Sometimes, 
after  a  long  drought,  the  contrary  takes  place,  and  the  whole 
lake  disappears  under  ground.  Thus,  from  December  1833 
to  October  1834,  not  a  trace  of  it  was  visible,  so  thoroughly 
had  it  concealed  itself  in  its  subterranean  reservoirs,  where  its 

*  Torches  are  not  allowed  to  be  carried  in  the  Grotto  of  Adelsberg,  that  the 
whiteness  of  the  stalactites  may  not  he  tarnished  by  the  smoke. 


THE    MAGDALEN A    GROTTO.  16.5 

fishes,  secure  from  the  persecutions  of  man,  multiplied  in  a 
remarkable  manner.  The  Olm,  which  only  casually  comes  to 
the  light  of  day,  along  with  the  overflowing  waters  of  the  Cirk- 
nitz  Lake,  was  first  discovered  in  1814,  in  one  of  its  perma- 
nent subterranean  abodes.  The  Magdalena  or  (  Black  Grotto  ' 
situated  about  a  league  to  the  north  of  Adelsberg,  slants 
abruptly  into  the  bowels  of  the  mountain.  After  a  long  and 
difficult  passage  over  blocks  of  stone  or  through  soft  mud,  a 
tranquil  pool  is  at  length  reached,  which  rises  or  falls  simul- 
taneously with  the  waters  of  the  Poik,  and  proves,  by  this 
reciprocal  action,  that,  in  all  probability,  all  the  numerous 
grottoes  and  subterranean  river  channels  of  this  so  strangely 
undermined  country  form  but  one  vast  and  intricate  network. 
It  was  in  this  pool,  which  no  light  illumines  and  no  wind  ever 


THE  PROTEUS  AXGUINUS. 


stirs,  that  numerous  Protei  were  first  discovered ;  but  as  hun- 
dreds of  specimens  have  since  found  their  way  to  the  cabinets 
of  naturalists,  to  be  observed,  dissected,  or  bottled  up  in 
spirits,  their  number  has  very  much  decreased,  and  the  time  is 
perhaps  not  far  distant  when  they  will  be  entirely  extirpated 
in  the  grotto,  where  from  time  immemorial  they  had  enjoyed 
an  undisturbed  security.  The  Proteus  is  one  of  those  remark- 
able reptiles  which  breathe  at  the  same  time  through  lungs 
and  gills,  having  on  each  side  of  the  neck  three  rose-red 
branchise,  which  it  retains  through  life,  as  its  lungs  are  but 
imperfectly  developed.  It  has  a  long,  eel-like  body  with  an 
elongated  head,  a  compressed  tail,  and  four  very  short  and 
thin  legs.  The  skin  is  flesh-coloured,  and  so  translucent 
that  the  liver  and  the  heart,  which  beats  about  fifty  times  in 


166  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

a  minute,  can  be  distinctly  seen  underneath.  In  spite  of  its 
apparent  weakness,  it  is  able  to  glide  rapidly  through  the 
water.  Its  four  little  legs  remain  immovable  while  swim- 
ming ;  they  are  only  used  for  creeping,  and  then  in  a  very 
imperfect  manner.  During  rapid  movements  the  gills  swell 
and  assume  a  lively  scarlet  colour ;  when  quiet,  they  collapse 
and  become  white  like  the  rest  of  the  body.  Sometimes  the 
animal  raises  its  head  above  the  water  to  breathe,  but  pul- 
monary respiration  evidently  plays  but  a  secondary  part  in 
its  economy,  as  it  can  only  live  a  very  short  time  out  of  the 
water.  The  skeleton  consists  almost  entirely  of  cartilage. 
The  eyes,  two  little  black  spots,  lie  buried  under  the  skin, 
and,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  are  very  imperfectly  developed. 
Although  more  than  a  thousand  specimens  have  been  ob- 
served, yet  but  little  is  known  about  its  mode  of  life,  nor  has 
it  been  ascertained  whether  it  is  oviparous  or  brings  forth  live 
young.  In  a  captive  state  the  Proteus  is  able  to  live  for 
several  years  without  any  apparent  food ;  but  on  fastening  a 
small  worm  to  the  extremity  of  a  thin  stick,  and  holding  it 
under  the  water  close  to  the  head  of  the  reptile,  it  shoots 
rapidly  towards  it,  swallows  it  with  the  same  velocity,  then 
ejects  it  again,  and  repeats  this  manoeuvre  several  times, 
until  it  finally  retains  the  morsel.  The  untiring  zeal  of  the 
German  naturalists  has  discovered  the  Proteus  in  thirty-one 
different  caverns,  and  ascertained  seven  distinct  species, 
varying  by  their  size,  the  form  of  the  head,  the  position  of 
the  eyes,  and  the  colour  of  the  skin.  Six  of  these  species 
belong  to  the  caverns  of  Carniola,  and  the  seventh  to  those 
of  Dalmatia.  Two  different  species  never  inhabit  the  same 
cavern. 

During  the  visit  which  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  paid,  in 
1819,  to  the  Magdalena  Grotto,  the  most  remarkable  parts 
of  the  cave  were  brilliantly  illuminated,  so  as  to  produce  a 
magical  effect.  Charon's  boat,  issuing  from  a  dark  recess, 
came  gliding  along  over  the  black  surface  of  the  pool.  The 
grim  ferryman  drew  up  his  net  before  the  august  visitors,  and 
presented  them  with  six  Protei  that  had  been  entangled  in 
its  meshes.  Dr.  Schinidl  mentions  part  of  the  subterranean 
river  in  the  Planina  Cave,  1,715  fathoms  from  the  entrance, 
as  the  spot  where  the  Protei  are  most  abundant.     Near  to  a 


THE    MAMMOTH    CAVE.  167 

small  cascade  which  the  rivulet  here  forms  over  a  reef,  the 
waters  absolutely  swarm  with  them,  and  the  light-coloured 
animals,  darting  about  in  all  directions  in  the  dark  stream, 
afford  a  strange  and  picturesque  spectacle.  As  the  cavern 
is  of  most  difficult  access,  they  here  enjoy  a  tranquillity 
rarely  disturbed,  and  no  doubt  they  have  many  other  still 
more  hidden  retreats,  to  which  man  is  incapable  of  pene- 
trating. The  best  method  for  transporting  the  Proteus  is 
now  perfectly  understood,  and  living  specimens  have  been 
conveyed  as  far  as  Eussia,  Hungary,  and  Scotland.  All  that 
they  need  is  a  frequent  supply  of  fresh  water,  and  a  careful 
removal  of  all  light.  Their  food  need  cause  no  trouble,  as  the 
water  contains  all  they  require.  It  is  recommended  to  lay  a 
piece  of  stalactite  from  their  native  grotto  in  the  vase  in  which 
they  are  transported.  When  resting  or  sleeping,  they  then 
coil  themselves  round  the  stone,  as  if  tenderly  embracing  it. 
In  this  manner  they  have  already  been  "kept  above  five  years 
out  of  their  caverns.  The  guides  to  the  Grotto  of  Adelsberg 
have  always  got  a  supply  on  hand,  and  sell  them  for  about 
two  florins  a-piece. 

On  turning  our  attention  from  the  grottoes  of  Carniola  to 
those  of  the  New  World,  we  find,  in  the  vast  Mammoth  Cave 
in  Kentucky,  a  no  less  interesting  animal  creation,  which, 
though  different  from  that  of  the  Austrian  caverns,  still  shows 
a  certain  family  resemblance,  and  affords  another  proof  that  a 
similarity  of  external  circumstances  always  produces  analo- 
gous forms  of  organic  life.  Thus,  the  two  blind  beetles  which 
are  found  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  belong  to  the  same  genera 
(Anophthalmus  and  Adelops)  that  have  also  their  repre- 
sentatives in  the  Grotto  of  Adelsberg.  The  largest  insect  is 
here  a  species  of  cricket,  with  enormously  long  antenna? ; 
there  are  also  two  small  white  eyeless  spiders  and  a  few 
crustaceans.  The  Mammoth  Cave  has  no  proteiform  reptile 
to  boast  of,  but  a  peculiar  blind  rat  and  a  peculiar  blind  fish. 

The  cavern  rat,  which  is  tolerably  numerous,  but  which, 
on  account  of  its  remarkable  timidity,  seldom  shows  itself, 
differs  from  the  common  or  Norway  rat,  by  its  bluish  colour, 
its  white  abdomen,  neck,  and  feet,  and  its  soft  hair.  It  has 
large  black  eyes,  like  those  of  a  rabbit,  but  entirely  destitute 
of  an  iris,  and  uncommonly  long  whiskers,  as  if  Nature  had 


168 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


wished  to  indemnify  it  for  the  loss  of  sight  by  a  more  perfect 
development  of  the  sense  of  touch.  Although  the  eyes  of  this 
rat  are  large  and  brilliant,  yet  Professor  Silliman  convinced 
himself  of  their  perfect  insensibility  to  light.  All  proof  is 
wanting  that  it  ever  visits  the  upper  world. 

The  blind  fish  (Amblyojpsis  spelceus)  is  now  become  toler- 
ably rare  from  its  having  been  so  frequently  fished  out  of  the 
Lethe  stream,  as  the  subterranean  river  of  the  Mammoth  Cave 
is  called.  Many  physiologists  have  already  made  it  the  sub- 
ject of  their  observations,  and  are  generally  of  opinion  that  the 


BLIXD   FISH   (AMBLYOPSIS   SPEL^EUS). 


Amblyopsis  was  not  originally  blind,  but  that,  having  found 
its  way  into  the  cave,  it  gradually  lost  its  powers  of  vision. 
The  celebrated  naturalist  Agassiz,  however,  being  perfectly 
convinced  that  all  animals  existing  in  a  wild  state  have  been 
created  within  their  actual  bounds  with  all  the  peculiarities 
of  structure  which  distinguish  them  at  the  present  day,  is  of 
opinion  that  the  blind  fish  and  all  the  other  blind  animals  of 
the  Mammoth  Cave  are  the  aboriginal  children  of  darkness, 
and  have  at  no  time  been  connected  with  the  world  of  light. 


169 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CAVES  AS  PLACES  OF  REFUGE. 

The  Cave  of  Adullam — Mahomet  in  the  Cave  of  Thaur — The  Cave  of  Longara — The 
Cave  of  Egg— The  Caves  of  Eathlin — The  Cave  of  Yeermalik — The  Caves  of 
Granada — Aben  Aboo,  the  Morisco  king — The  Caves  of  Gortyna  and  Melidoni 
— Atrocities  of  French  Warfare  in  Algeria — The  Caves  of  the  Dahra — The  Cave 
of  Shelas — St.  Arnaud. 

I  1ST  times  of  war  or  persecution,  caverns  have  often  served  as 
places  of  concealment.  It  was  in  the  cave  of  Adullam 
that  David  hid  himself  to  escape  from  the  fury  of  Saul ;  and 
on  the  flight  from  Mecca  to  Medina,  Mahomet  and  his  dis- 
ciple Abu  Bekr  took  refuge  in  a  cave  in  Mount  Thaur.  They 
left  Mecca  while  it  was  yet  dark,  making  their  way  on  foot 
by  the  light  of  the  stars,  and  the  day  dawned  as  they  found 
themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  about  an  hour's  distance 
from  the  holy  city.  Scarcely  were  they  within  the  cave 
when  they  heard  the  sound  of  pursuit.  Abu  Bekr,  though  a 
brave  man,  quaked  with  fear.  '  Our  pursuers,'  said  he,  '  are 
many,  and  we  are  but  two. '  '  Nay,'  replied  Mahomet,  '  there 
is  a  third  :  God  is  with  us  ! ' 

And  here  the  Moslem  writers  relate  a  miracle  dear  to  the 
minds  of  true  believers.  By  the  time,  say  they,  that  his 
pursuers,  the  Koreishites,  reached  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  an 
acacia-tree  had  sprung  up  before  it,  in  the  spreading  branches 
of  which  a  pigeon  had  made  its  nest  and  laid  its  eggs,  and 
over  the  whole  a  spider  had  woven  its  web.  When  the 
Koreishites  beheld  these  signs  of  undisturbed  quiet,  they  con- 
cluded that  no  one  could  recently  have  entered  the  cavern, 
so  they  turned  away  and  pursued  their  search  in  another 
direction. 

But  caverns  have  not  always  proved  safe  places  of  refuge, 
and  a  barbarous  enemy  has  often  used  them  for  the  destruction 


170  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

of  those  who  there  vainly  sought  safety.  Thus,  in  Palestine, 
the  Jews,  who  hid  themselves  with  their  wives  and  children  in 
deep  caverns  hollowed  in  the  flanks  of  a  precipitous  mountain, 
could  not  escape  the  satellites  of  Herod,  who,  let  down  from 
above  in  large  baskets  or  tubs,  put  these  defenceless  fugitives 
to  the  sword.  Daring  the  Gallic  war  Csesar  ordered  his  lieu- 
tenant Crassus  to  wall  up  the  mouths  of  the  caves  in  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Aquitaine  had  sought  a  refuge,  and  many 
of  them  were  thus  immured  alive. 

In  the  year  1510,  when  the  French  army,  on  its  retreat 
from  Italy,  was  traversing  the  defiles  of  Piedmont,  the  rear- 
guard, commanded  by  the  famous  Chevalier  Bayard,  the  good 
knight  'without  fear  or  reproach,' having  halted  at  Longara, 
the  mercenaries,  who  formed  a  considerable  part  of  his  troops, 
spread  over  the  country,  pillaging  and  destroying  wherever 
they  went. 

To  escape  from  these  savage  bands,  the  nobles  of  the  dis- 
trict persuaded  about  two  thousand  of  the  peasantry  to  accom- 
pany them,  with  their  families  and  an  abundant  supply  of  pro- 
visions, into  the  Cave  of  Longara,  which  forms  a  vast  though 
low  vaulted  hall,  about  1,200  feet  long  and  300  feet  broad,  but 
with  an  entrance  so  narrow  that  only  a  single  person  can 
pass  at  a  time.  The  mercenaries,  having  discovered  the 
secret  of  the  cave,  rushed  to  the  spot,  eager  for  pillage.  The 
unfortunate  refugees  vainly  strove  to  soften  the  hearts  of 
these  barbarians,  but,  finding  all  supplications  vain,  they  took 
courage  from  despair,  and,  favoured  by  the  natural  strength 
of  the  cave,  repelled  the  attack  of  the  first  banditti  who 
attempted  to  force  an  entrance. 

The  ruffians  now  returned  to  the  charge  in  greater  num- 
bers ;  but  being  still  unable  to  accomplish  their  object,  they 
formed  the  diabolical  plan  of  setting  fire  to  a  heap  of  hay, 
straw,  and  greenwood,  which  they  piled  up  before  the  mouth 
of  the  grotto.  The  smoke  penetrated  into  the  cave  and 
in  a  short  time  the  two  thousand  wretches  it  contained — 
mostly  women  and  children — were  suffocated.  Bayard, 
enraged  at  this  barbarous  act,  which  sullied  his  own  honour, 
ordered  the  ringleaders  to  be  seized  and  hanged  before  the 
entrance  of  the  cave. 

While    these     malefactors    were    in    the    hands    of  the 


THE    CAVE    OF    EGG.  171 

executioner,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  the  only  survivor  of  the  catas- 
trophe, was  seen  to  crawl  out  of  the  grotto.  Bayard  ordered 
every  aid  to  be  rendered  him  which  his  state  required,  and 
could  not  refrain  from  tears  while  listening  to  his  lamentable 
tale.  The  boy  related  that  when  the  smoke  began  to  spread 
in  the  cavern,  the  nobles,  resolving  to  die  at  least  like  soldiers, 
wanted  to  sally  forth,  sword  in  hand,  but  were  prevented  by 
the  peasants,  who  fell  upon  them  and  disarmed  them,  saying, 
6  You  have  led  us  hither,  and  here  with  us  you  shall  die  ! ' 
Thus,  a  few  moments  before  a  common  doom  was  to  destroy 
both  nobles  and  serfs,  a  horrible  strife  had  arisen  between 
them  in  the  darkness  of  the  cave. 

'  And  thou,  my  friend,'  asked  Bayard,  '  by  what  miracle 
hast  thou  escaped  death  ? '  '  I  had  remarked,'  answered  the 
lad,  '  a  feeble  ray  of  daylight  in  a  corner  of  the  grotto,  and 
applied  my  mouth  to  the  crevice  through  which  it  passed. 
I  soon  fainted,  but  this  small  portion  of  fresh  air  pre- 
served my  life.  When  I  recovered  my  senses,  I  remembered 
all  that  had  passed,  but  I  was  alone,  and  it  took  me  a  long 
time  to  crawl  out  of  the  grotto.'  'All  thy  companions,' 
answered  Bayard,  'have  been  buried,  by  my  orders,  in  con- 
secrated ground  ;  and  behold  !  there  hang  their  assassins  ! ' 

Unfortunately  the  history  of  our  land  is  tarnished  with 
similar  deeds  of  atrocity. 

A  cave  in  the  Isle  of  Egg,  one  of  the  Hebrides,  has  a  very 
narrow  entrance,  through  which  one  can  hardly  creep  on 
knees  and  hands,  but  it  rises  steep  and  lofty  within,  and  runs 
into  the  bowels  of  the  rock  to  the  depth  of  255  measured  feet. 
The  rude  and  stony  bottom  of  this  cave  is  strewed  with  the 
bones  of  men,  women,  and  children,  the  sad  relics  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  island,  200  in  number,  of  whose 
destruction  the  following  story  is  related.  '  The  Macdonalds,  of 
the  Isle  of  Egg,  a  people  dependent  on  Clanranald,  had  done 
some  injury  to  the  Laird  of  Macleod.  The  tradition  of  the  isle 
says  that  it  was  by  a  personal  attack  on  the  chieftain,  in 
which  his  back  was  broken ;  but  that  of  the  other  isles  bears 
that  the  injury  was  offered  to  two  or  three  of  the  Macleods, 
who,  landing  upon  Egg,  and  behaving  insolently  towards  the 
islanders,  were  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  turned  adrift  in  a 
boat,  which  the  winds  and  waves  safely  conducted  to  Skye. 


172  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

To  avenge  the  offence  given,  Macleod  sailed  with  such  a 
body  of  men  as  rendered  resistance  hopeless.  The  natives, 
fearing  his  vengeance,  concealed  themselves  in  the  cavern ; 
and,  after  strict  search,  the  Macleods  went  on  board  their 
galleys,  after  doing  what  mischief  they  could,  concluding 
the  inhabitants  had  left  the  isle.  But  next  morning  they 
espied  from  their  vessels  a  man  upon  the  island,  and,  im- 
mediately landing  again,  they  traced  his  retreat,  by  means 
of  a  light  snow  on  the  ground,  to  the  cavern.  Macleod 
then  summoned  the  subterraneous  garrison,  and  demanded 
that  the  inhabitants  who  had  offended  him  should  be  de- 
livered up.  This  was  peremptorily  refused.  The  chieftain 
thereupon  caused  his  people  to  divert  the  course  of  a  rill  of 
water,  which,  falling  over  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  would  have 
prevented  his  purposed  vengeance.  He  then  kindled  at  the 
entrance  of  the  cavern  a  huge  fire,  and  maintained  it  until 
all  within  were  destroyed  by  suffocation.'  * 

In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  a  no  less  horrible  deed 
occurred  during  the  campaign  of  Essex  against  the  Irish 
rebels.  When  the  English  forces  entered  Antrim,  the  Scots 
of  that  county  had  sent  their  wives  and  children,  their 
aged  and  their  sick,  to  the  island  of  Rathlin  for  safety.  Sir 
John  Norris  was  directed  by  the  Earl  to  cross  over  and  kill 
all  that  he  could  find.  The  run  up  the  Antrim  coast  was 
rapidly  and  quietly  accomplished.  Before  an  alarm  could  be 
given  the  English  had  landed  close  to  the  church  which 
bears  Columba's  name.  The  castle  was  taken  by  storm, 
and  every  soul  in  it — about  two  hundred — put  to  the  sword. 
It  was  then  discovered  that  the  greater  part  of  the  fugitives, 
chiefly  mothers  and  their  little  ones,  were  hidden  in  the 
caves  about  the  shores.  '  There  was  no  remorse,'  says 
Eroude,  '  not  even  the  faintest  shadow  of  perception  that  the 
occasion  called  for  it.  They  were  hunted  out  as  if  they  had 
been  seals  or  otters,  and  all  destroyed.' 

When  the  barbarian  Genghis  Khan  invaded  Koondooz  in 
Central  Asia,  700  men  took  refuge,  with  their  wives  and 
families,  in  the  cave  of  Yeermalik,  and  defended  themselves 
so  valiantly  that,  after  trying  in  vain  to  destroy  them  by  fire, 

*  Voyages  in  the  Lighthouse  Yacht,  published  in  Lockhart's  'Life  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott.' 


THE    CAVES   OF   THE    ALPUJARRAS.  173 

the  invader  built  them  in  with  huge  natural  blocks  of  stone, 
and  left  them  to  die  of  hunger.  In  the  year  1840,  the  cave 
was  visited  by  Captain  Burslem  and  Lieutenant  Sturt,  pro- 
bably the  only  Europeans  that  ever  entered  its  sepulchral 
recesses,  as  the  people  in  the  neighbourhood  believe  ifc  to  be 
the  abode  of  Sheitan  (the  devil),  and  are  as  reluctant  to  guide 
a  stranger  as  to  explore  it  themselves.  The  entrance  is  half- 
way up  a  hill,  and  is  fifty  feet  high,  with  about  the  same 
breadth.  Not  far  from  the  entrance  the  travellers  found  a 
passage  between  two  jagged  rocks,  possibly  the  remains  of 
Genghis  Khan's  fatal  wall,  so  narrow  that  they  had  some 
difficulty  in  squeezing  through,  and  then  before  long  came  to  a 
drop  of  sixteen  feet,  down  which  they  were  lowered  by  ropes. 
Here  they  left  two  men  to  haul  them  up  on  their  return,  and 
bade  farewell  to  the  light  of  day.  The  narrow  path,  which 
led  by  the  edge  of  a  black  abyss,  sometimes  over  a  flooring  of 
smooth  ice  for  a  few  feet,  widened  gradually  till  they  reached 
a  damp  and  dripping  hall,  so  vast  in  size  that  the  light  of 
their  torches  did  not  enable  them  to  form  any  idea  of  its 
size.  In  this  colossal  hall,  or  rather  tomb,  they  found  the 
remains  of  the  victims  of  Genghis  Khan:  hundreds  of 
skeletons  in  a  perfectly  undisturbed  state — one,  for  instance, 
still  holding  the  skeletons  of  two  infants  in  its  long  arms — 
while  some  of  the  bodies  had  been  preserved,  and  lay 
shrivelled,  like  the  mummies  reposing  in  the  sepulchral  vault 
of  the  Great  St.  Bernard. 

In  the  dark  history  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  one  of  the 
darkest  passages  is  that  of  the  rebellion  and  final  destruction 
of  the  Moors  of  Granada.  Driven  to  despair  by  an  intolerable 
tyranny,  the  unfortunate  people  at  length  rose  in  arms 
against  their  oppressors  ;  but  all  their  bravery,  aided  by  the 
natural  strength  of  their  mountain  fastnesses,  failed  to  defend 
them  against  the  superior  arms  of  their  pitiless  enemy. 
Defeated  in  every  encounter,  driven  from  every  stronghold, 
thousands  perished  by  famine  or  the  sword,  and  those  who 
submitted  were  either  condemned  to  a  cruel  death  or  exiled 
from  their  native  soil.  Many  were  driven  to  seek  a  refuge 
in  the  caves  of  the  Alpuj arras,  south-east  of  Granada,  and 
of  the  bold  sierras  that  stretch  along  the  southern  shores  of 
Spain.     Their  pursuers  followed  up  the  chase  with  the  fierce 


174  THE    SUBTERRANEAx\T   WORLD. 

glee  of  the  hunter  tracking  the  wild  beast  of  the  forest  to  his 
lair.  There  they  were  huddled  together,  one  or  two  hundred 
frequently  in  the  same  cavern.  It  was  not  easy  to  detect 
the  hiding-place  amidst  the  rocks  and  thickets  which  covered 
up  and  concealed  the  entrance.  But  when  it  was  detected, 
it  was  no  difficult  matter  to  destroy  the  inmates.  The  green 
bushes  furnished  the  material  for  a  smouldering  fire,  and 
those  within  were  soon  suffocated  by  the  smoke,  or,  rushing 
out,  threw  themselves  on  the  mercy  of  their  pursuers.  Some 
were  butchered  on  the  spot ;  others  were  sent  to  the  gibbet 
or  the  galleys  ;  while  the  greater  part,  with  a  fate  scarcely 
less  terrible,  were  given  up  as  the  booty  of  the  soldiers,  and 
sold  into  slavery. 

Aben  Aboo,  the  last  chief  of  the  insurgents,  who  had 
hitherto  eluded  every  attempt  to  seize  him,  but  whose  capture 
was  of  more  importance  than  that  of  any  other  of  his  nation, 
had  a  narrow  escape  in  one  of  these  caverns  not  far  from 
Berchal,  where  he  lay  hid  with  a  wife  and  two  of  his 
daughters.  The  women  were  suffocated,  with  about  seventy 
other  persons ;  but  the  Morisco  chief  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape  through  an  aperture  at  the  further  end,  which  was 
unknown  to  his  enemies. 

Unfortunately,  the  little  king  of  the  Alpuj  arras,  as  he  was 
contemptuously  called  by  the  Spaniards,  was  soon  after 
killed  in  another  cavern  by  a  traitor's  hand,  and  with  him 
fell  the  last  hope  of  the  Moriscos.  His  corpse,  set  astride  on  a 
mule,  and  supported  erect  in  the  saddle  by  a  wooden  frame, 
concealed  beneath  ample  robes,  was  led  in  triumphal  pro- 
cession through  the  streets  of  Granada,  and  then  decapitated. 
The  body  was  given  to  the  rabble,  who,  after  dragging  it 
through  the  streets  with  scoffs  and  imprecations,  committed 
it  to  the  flames,  while  the  head,  inclosed  in  a  cage,  was  set 
up  over  the  gate  which  opened  on  the  Alpuj  arras.  There  it 
remained  for  many  a  year,  no  one  venturing  to  remove  it,  for 
on  the  cage  was  inscribed,  '  This  is  the  head  of  the  traitor 
Aben  Aboo.  Let  no  one  take  it  down,  under  pain  of 
death.' 

The  neighbourhood  of  Gortyna,  in  the  island  of  Crete,  has 
become  celebrated  in  modern  times  for  a  mountain-labyrinth, 
with  numerous  and  intricate  passages,  which  exists  in  a  valley 
near  it,  and  in  which  the  myth  of  the  Dsedalean  labyrinth 


THE    CAVES    OF    GOJRTYJSTA.  175 

was   probably   localised.       During    the    revolutionary    war 
against  the    Turkish   yoke    (1822-1828)    the    Christian    in- 
habitants   of  the    adjacent   villages,    for   months   together, 
lived  in  this  cavern,  merely  sallying  out  by  day  to  till  their 
lands,  or  to  gather  their  crops,  when  it  was  safe  to  do  so. 
Though  the    dark   recesses    of  the    cavern   were    not   very 
inviting  abodes  for  human  beings  for  any  long  period,  yet 
the  sense  of  safety  gave  it,  doubtless,  a  peculiar  charm ;  for 
no    one    could   approach   within    range    of    the    numerous 
muskets    pointed   from   masked  loopholes  at   its    entrance, 
without  being   immediately  shot   down ;    nor   could   either 
fire  or  smoke  suffocate  or  dislodge  its  inmates,  as  the  entrance 
is  in  the  side  of  a  steep  hill,  500  or  600  feet  above  the  bed 
of  the  wild  valley  in  which  it  is  situated,  and  thus  is  safe  from 
attack   in   every   direction.      History   as   well   as  tradition 
states  that,  in  all  troubled  times   in  Crete,  the   labyrinth 
of  Gortyna  has  been  the  retreat  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighbourhood;  but  when  Captain  Spratt  visited  it  in  1852, 
its  only  inhabitants  were  bats,  who,  by  their  mode  of  hooking 
on  to  each  other,  were  hanging  from  the  ceiling  like  clusters  of 
bees.     Under  good  native  guides,  he  spent  nearly  two  hours  in 
threading  its  tortuous  passages,  which  turn  in  so  many  ways 
and  have  so  many  branches  as  to  justify  the  conclusion  that 
a   master  hand  must   have   directed   the   excavation.     The 
mark  of  the  tool  is  seen  upon  every  side  of  the  avenues  and 
chambers,  indicative  of  its  artificial  character. 

Less  fortunate  than  their  brethren  of  Gortyna  were  the 
unfortunate  Cretans  who,  during  the  same  war,  took  refuge 
in  the  cave  of  Melidoni.  In  1822,  when  Hussein  Bey  marched 
against  the  neighbouring  village,  the  inhabitants,  to  the 
number  of  three  hundred,  repaired  to  the  cave,  taking  with 
them  their  valuables  and  provisions  sufficient  for  six  months. 
The  entrance  is  so  narrow  and  steep  that  they  were  perfectly 
secured  against  an  attack,  and  the  Turks  in  their  first 
attempt  lost  twenty-five  men.  Finding  that  they  refused 
submission  on  any  terms,  Hussein  Bey  ordered  a  quantity  of 
combustibles  to  be  brought  to  the  entrance  and  set  on  fire. 
The  smoke,  rolling  into  the  cavern  in  immense  volumes, 
drove  the  miserable  fugitives  into  the  remoter  chambers, 
where  they  lingered  a  little  while  longer,  but  were  all 
eventually    suffocated.     The   Turks  waited  some   days,  but 


176  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

still  did  not  dare  to  enter,  and  a  Greek  captive  was  finally 
sent  down  on  the  promise  of  his  life  being  spared.  The 
Turks  then  descended  and  plundered  the  bodies.  A  week 
afterwards,  three  natives  of  the  village  stole  into  the  cavern  to 
see  what  had  become  of  their  friends  and  relatives.  It  is 
said  that  they  were  so  overcome  by  the  terrible  spectacle 
that  two  of  them  died  within  a  few  days.  Years  afterwards, 
when  the  last  vestiges  of  the  insurrection  had  been  sup- 
pressed, the  Archbishop  of  Crete  blessed  the  cavern,  making 
it  consecrated  ground ;  and  the  bones  of  the  victims  were 
gathered  together  and  partially  covered  up,  in  the  outer 
chamber— a  vast  elliptical  hall,  about  eighty  feet  in  height, 
and  propped  in  the  centre  by  an  enormous  stalactitic  pillar. 
On  all  sides  the  stalactites  hang  like  fluted  curtains  from 
the  roof,  here  in  broad  sheeted  masses,  there  dropping .  into 
single  sharp  folds,  but  all  on  a  scale  of  Titanic  grandeur. 
In  this  imposing  and  silent  hall,  under  the  black  banners 
of  eternal  Mght,  lay  heaped  the  mouldering  skulls  and  bones 
of  the  poor  Christians.  They  could  not  have  had  a  more 
appropriate  sepulchre. 

Such  have  been  the  atrocities  of  Turkish  warfare  within 
the  memory  of  living  man  ;  but  French  officers  have  in  our 
days  emulated  the  cruelty  of  Ottoman  commanders,  and 
shown  that  the  nation  which  boasts  of  marching  at  the  head 
of  civilisation  has  still  retained  much  of  its  ancient  Gallic 
barbarism.  When  Marshal  Pelissier  filled  with  smoke 
the  crowded  caves  of  the  Dahra  in  1844,  and  destroyed- 
many  hundreds  of  Kabyls  whose  great  crime  it  was  to 
defend  their  country  against  the  French  hordes,  it  has  been 
stated,  as  an  excuse  for  this  atrocity,  that  he  left  open  some 
of  the  entrances  to  the  caves,  and  that  he  only  resorted  to 
the  smoke  as  a  means  of  compelling  the  fugitives  to  come 
out  and  surrender  ;  but  no  such  excuse  can  be  pleaded 
in  favour  of  his  successor,  St.  Arnaud.  In  the  summer 
of  1845,*  this  French  commander  received  private  in- 
formation that  a  body  of  Arabs  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
cave  of  Shelas.  Thither  he  marched  a  body  of  troops. 
Eleven  of  the  fugitives  came  out  and  surrendered ;  but  it 
was  known  to  St.  Arnaud,  though  not  to  any  other  French- 

*  Kinglake. 


MASSACRE    IN    THE    CAVES    OF   THE    DAIIRA.  177 

man,  that  five  hundred  men  remained  in  the  cave.  All 
these  people  Colonel  St.  Arnaud  determined  to  kill,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  keep  the  deed  secret  even  from  the  troops 
engaged  in  the  operation,  as  the  smoking  of  the  Caves  of  the 
Dahra  had  not  greatly  tended  to  raise  France  in  the  public 
opinion  of  Europe.  Except  his  brother  and  Marshal  Bugeaud? 
whose  approval  was  the  prize  he  sought,  no  one  was  to 
know  what  he  did.  He  contrived  to  execute  both  his  pur- 
poses. Thus  he  writes  to  his  brother  : — 6  I  had  all  the 
apertures  hermetically  stopped  up.  I  made  one  vast  se- 
pulchre. No  one  went  into  the  caverns ;  no  one  but  myself 
knew  that  under  these  there  are  500  brigands  who  will 
never  again  slaughter  Frenchmen.  A  confidential  report 
has  told  all  to  the  marshal,  without  terrible  poetry  or 
imagery.  Brother,  no  one  is  so  good  as  I  am  by  taste 
and  by  nature.  From  the  8th  to  the  12th  I  have  been  ill, 
but  my  conscience  does  not  reproach  me.  I  have  done  my 
duty  as  a  commander,  and  to-morrow  I  would  do  the  same 
over  again;  but  I  have  taken  a  disgust  to  Africa.'  With 
such  nauseous  sentiment  wrote  the  man,  (  good  by  taste  and 
nature,5  who  seven  years  later  was  to  attach  the  memory  of 
his  name  to  the  bloody  days  of  December,  and  to  deal  with 
many  a  French  republican  as  he  had  dealt  with  the  Arabs. 


N 


178  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

HERMIT  CAVES — ROCK  TEMPLES — ROCK  CHURCHES. 

St.  Paul  of  Thebes — St.  Anthony — His  Visit  to  Alexandria,  and  death — Numerous 
Cave  Hermits  in  the  East — St.  Benedict  in  the  Cave  of  Subiaco— St.  Cuthbert — 
St.  Beatus — Rock  Temples  of  Kanara — The  Wonders  of  Ellora — Ipsamboul — 
Rock  Churches  of  Lalibala  in  Abyssinia — The  Cave  of  Trophonios — The  Grotto 
of  St.  Rosolia  near  Palermo — The  Chapel  of  Agios  Niketas  in  Greece — The 
Chapel  of  Oberstein  on  the  Nahe — The  repentant  fratricide. 

THE  dim.  twilight  of  a  forest,  its  leafy  vaults,  its  majestic 
silence,  or  its  foliage  moaning  in  the  wind,  are  all  apt 
to  strike  the  mind  with  a  religious  awe.  But  the  solitude 
and  stillness  of  caverns  is  equally  well  adapted  to  awaken 
feelings  of  devotion,  and  thus  we  find  that  contemplative  minds 
in  every  age,  and  of  every  creed,  have  found  in  them  congenial 
retreats.  The  Indian  fakir  and  the  Mahometan  dervish 
love  the  seclusion  of  the  silent  grotto,  and  here  also  the 
Hebrew  prophets  not  seldom  enjoyed  their  ecstatic  visions. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  during  the  first  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity many  an  unknown  anchorite  retired  to  some  solitary 
cave,  as  to  a  harbour  of  refuge  from  the  rude  contact  of  the 
world;  but  the  first  hermit  mentioned  in  ecclesiastical  history 
is  St.  Paul  of  Thebes,  in  Egypt,  who,  during  the  persecution 
of  Decius,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  retreated  to 
the  desert,  where,  dwelling  in  a  cave,  and  living  on  the 
fruits  of  trees,  he  reached  his  hundredth  year.  His  friend 
and  disciple,  St.  Anthony,  who  first  roused  among  his  con- 
temporaries a  wide-spread  inclination  for  hermit  seclusion, 
plays  a  far  more  conspicuous  part  in  the  annals  of  the 
Church.  Born  of  wealthy  Coptic  peasants,  this  remarkable 
man,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  divided  his  whole  property  among 
the  poor,  and  thenceforth  devoted  himself  to  a  life  of  the 
strictest  ascetism.  He  retired  first  to  a  rock-cave  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  native  village,  and  then  to  the  more 
distant  ruins  of  a  deserted  castle,  where  he  spent  twenty 


INDIAN    ROCK-CUT    TEMPLE:    PORCH    OF    THE    CHAITYA    CAVE    TEMPLE,    AJUNTA, 


ST.    ANTHONY    OF    EGYPT.  179 

years  as  a  hermit.  Meanwhile  his  reputation  for  sanctity 
had  spread  throughout  all  Egypt,  and  numerous  candidates 
for  a  hermit  life  besought  him  to  take  them  under  his  spiritual 
care.  He  yielded  to  their  entreaties,  and  soon  the  neigh- 
bouring desert  was  crowded  with  the  huts  of  zealous  ancho- 
rites, who  revered  him  as  their  model.  But  he  was  sur- 
rounded not  only  by  these  pious  disciples ;  the  worldly-minded 
also  came  nocking  to  his  cave  for  advice  or  assistance ;  for 
the  belief  was  general  that,  like  the  first  Apostles,  he  was 
gifted  with  the  power  of  casting  out  devils  and  foretelling 
future  events.  Anthony,  thus  disturbed  in  his  solitary 
meditations,  resolved  to  bury  himself  still  deeper  in  the 
desert,  and  fled  to  a  cave  in  the  furthest  parts  of  Egypt, 
near  a  source  shaded  by  a  few  date-palms.  Here  he  hoped 
to  be  able  to  live  entirely  for  prayer  and  contemplation,  but 
his  hopes  proved  vain,  for,  after  a  long  search,  his  disciples 
discovered  his  retreat,  and  again  anchorites  and  worldlings 
broke  in  upon  his  solitude.  In  his  hundredth  year  he  was 
prevailed  upon  by  St.  Athanasius  to  visit  Alexandria, 
where,  whenever  he  appeared,  crowds  gathered  round  him 
to  kiss  the  hem  of  his  garment  and  to  implore  his  blessing. 
Even  the  Emperor  Constantine  the  Great  wrote  to  him;  yet 
so  indifferent  had  he  become  to  all  worldly  distinctions  that 
he  could  with  difficulty  be  prevailed  upon  to  have  the  letter 
read  to  him.  Thus,  honoured  by  high  and  low,  and  yet  avoid- 
ing all  honour,  Anthony  reached  the  patriarchal  age  of  105. 
At  the  approach  of  death  he  begged  two  of  his  most  beloved 
disciples  to  conduct  him  to  the  wildest  part  of  the  desert. 
Here  he  died  in  their  arms,  after  having  first  made  them 
promise  to  keep  the  place  of  his  burial  secret,  as  he  feared 
that  an  undue  reverence  might  be  paid  to  his  bones. 

Anthony's  example  was  followed  far  and  wide  over  the 
eastern  world.  Whole  colonies  of  hermits  settled  in  the 
desert  of  Thebes,  near  Lake  Moeris,  in  Southern  Palestine, 
in  Armenia,  and  Pontus.  Their  numbers  amounted  to 
thousands,  many  living  in  rude  huts,  which  they  erected 
with  their  own  hands,  while  others  found  a  congenial  retreat 
in  the  grottoes  and  rock-tombs  which  abound  in  many  of  the 
countries  where  they  dwelt. 

From  the  East  the  spirit  of  monastic  seclusion  soon  spread 

N   2 


3  80  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

to  Western  Europe.  St.  Benedict,  the  founder  of  the  order 
which  has  rendered  such  signal  service  to  learning  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  spent  three  years  in  an  inaccessible  cave 
near  Subiaco,  five  leagues  from  Tivoli.  Eomanus,  a  monk 
in  a  neighbouring  convent,  alone  knew  of  his  retreat,  and 
daily  let  down  by  a  rope,  from  the  top  of  the  rock  in  which 
the  cave  was  situated,  the  small  quantity  of  bread  which  he 
needed  for  his  subsistence.  Here  he  was  at  length  dis- 
covered by  some  shepherds,  who  at  first  sight  took  him  for  a 
wild  beast,  as  he  was  clothed  in  skins,  but  soon  discovered 
that  he  was  a  saint  by  the  wise  lessons  he  gave  them. 

A  similar  longing  for  a  life  of  pious  seclusion  induced 
St.  Cuthbert  to  quit  the  Convent  of  Lindisfarne,  of  which  he 
had  been  prior,  and  to  seek  a  retreat  in  a  grotto  excavated  by 
his  own  hands,  on  one  of  the  Fame  Islands,  on  the  coast  of 
Northumberland.  An  ox-hide,  which  he  hung  before  its 
entrance  and  turned  towards  the  side  whence  the  wind  blew, 
afforded  a  scanty  shelter  against  the  rigours  of  a  northern 
winter.  But  the  fame  of  his  sanctity  spread  over  all 
England,  and  numerous  pilgrims  resorted  to  his  cave,  to 
profit  by  his  advice,  or  to  seek  consolation  in  their  troubles. 
One  day,  when  he  had  spent  eight  years  in  seclusion,  the 
king  of  ISTorthumbria,  attended  by  his  principal  nobles,  landed 
on  Cuthbert's  island-rock  to  beg  him  to  accept  the  episcopal 
dignity  of  Durham,  to  which  he  had  been  elected.  The  holy 
anchorite  yielded,  with  many  tears,  and  after  an  obstinate 
resistance,  for  he  was  loth  to  accept  duties  which  tore  him 
from  his  solitude.  After  two  years  he  resigned  his  bishopric, 
and  returned  to  his  beloved  cave,  where  he  shortly  after  died. 
According  to  a  popular  legend  the  Entrochi,  or  calcareous 
joints  of  the  petrified  Lily-Encrinites,  which  are  found 
among  the  rocks  of  the  Fame  Islands,  are  forged  by  his 
spirit,  and  pass  there  by  the  name  of '  St.  Cuthbert's  beads.' 
While  at  this  task,  he  is  supposed  to  sit  during  the  night 
upon  a  certain  rock,  and  to  use  another  as  his  anvil. 

1  Such  tales  had  Whitby's  fishers  told, 
And  said  they  might  his  shape  behold, 

And  hear  his  anvil  sound  ; 
A  deadened  clang — a  huge  dim  form, 
Seen  but,  and  heard,  when  gathering  storm 

And  night  was  closing  round.' — Marmion. 


KOCK-TEMPLES    OF   INDIA.  181 

The  Beatenberg,  situated  on  the  northern  side  of  the  lake 
of  Thun,  is  named  after  a  celebrated  cave  in  which  St. 
Beatus,  originally  a  British  noble,  who  had  come  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  wild  men  of  the  district,  dwelt  for  many 
years,  and  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety.  His  relics  re- 
maining there,  his  fete-day  attracted  such  crowds  of  pilgrims 
that  reforming  Berne  sent  two  deputies  in  1528  to  carry  off 
the  saint's  skull  and  bury  it  between  the  lakes  of  Thun  and 
Brienz ;  but  still  the  pilgrimages  continued,  and  a/fc  length,  in 
1566,  the  Protestant  zeal  of  Berne  went  to  the  expense  of  a 
wall,  and  thus  effectually  shut  out  the  pilgrims,  who,  in 
more  modern  times,  have  been  profitably  replaced  by  crowds 
of  tourists. 

Both  in  the  heathen  and  the  Christian  world,  grottoes, 
particularly  such  as  had  been  hallowed  by  the  lives  of  sainted 
anchorites,  have  frequently  been  consecrated  to  divine  service  ; 
and  to  render  them  still  more  worthy  of  their  destination, 
the  rude  excavations  of  nature  have  not  seldom  been  enlarged 
and  beautified  with  all  the  resources  of  art. 

Among  these  subterranean  places  of  worship,  those  of 
India  are  deservedly  renowned  for  their  colossal  size,  and  for 
the  vast  labour  bestowed  upon  the  sculptures  with  which 
they  are  adorned.  A  description  of  the  famous  rock-temples 
of  Kanara,  in  the  island  of  Salsette,  near  Bombay,  will  give 
the  reader  some  idea  of  their  magnificence. 

The  way  leads  over  a  narrow  mountain-path,  through  a 
jungle  so  dense  that  the  traveller  is  obliged  to  quit  his  palan- 
quin, and  to  ascend  on  foot  the  steep  acclivity,  from  which, 
at  some  distance  from  the  summit,  the  large  temple  overlooks 
the  country.  This  colossal  work  is  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
ninety  feet  long  and  thirty- eight  feet  broad,  with  a  corre- 
sponding height,  and  forms  an  oblong  square  with  a  vaulted 
roof.  Two  colossal  rows  of  columns  divide  the  hall  into 
three  naves  or  avenues,  and  give  it  the  form  of  an  ancient 
basilica. 

As  the  Temple  of  Kanara  served  the  Portuguese  for  some 
time  as  a  church,  during  their  occupation  of  the  small  archi- 
pelago of  Bombay,  the  heathen  sculptures  which  decorated 
the  interior  have  naturally  been  mostly  destroyed.  This  is 
the  more  to  be  regretted  as  the  well-preserved  and  masterly- 


182 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


executed  capitals  of  the  mighty  columns  justify  the  belief 
that  their  artistic  merit  must  have  been  worthy  of  the  grand 
dimensions  of  the  hall.  The  beautiful  portico,  however,  is 
still  richly  decorated.  On  each  side  a  recess  contains  a 
colossal,  well-executed  statue,  and  long  inscriptions  in  un- 
known characters  are  carved  on  the  square  pillars  of  the 
entrance.  The  charms  of  a  mysterious  past  thus  add  to  the 
interest  of  this  beautiful  monument,  the  work  of  an  astonish- 
ing patience  and  perseverance.  The  outer  face  of  the  portico, 
as  well  as  the  vestibule  extending  before  it,  twenty-eight  feet 


ROCK-TEMPLES  OF  AJUNTA. 

deep,  have  been  considerably  injured  by  the  ravages  of  time  : 
many  stones  have  started  from  their  joints,  and  a  multitude 
of  creeping  plants  cling  to  the  mouldering  statues.  Thus 
the  efforts  of  man  to  rear  eternal  monuments  are  vain ;  they 
must  necessarily  yield  to  the  living  powers  of  nature. 

'  The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 
And,  like  this  unsubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.'  * 

Steps  are  hewn  in  the  rock  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain, 
and  various  intricate  paths  lead  to  smaller  excavations,  con- 

*  Shakespeare,  '  Tempest,'  i v.  1. 


CAVE-TEMPLES    OF   ELLORA.  183 

sisting  mostly  of  two  cells  and  a  portico.  Near  each  of  them 
is  a  well  or  basin,  likewise  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  in  which  the 
rain-water  collects,  affording  a  grateful  beverage  to  the  tired 
wanderer.  Many  of  these  caves  are  larger  and  more  perfect 
than  the  others,  and  some  in  their  general  effect  resemble 
the  great  temple,  although  far  inferior  in  size  and  deco- 
ration. 

The  whole  aspect  of  this  perforated  mountain  shows  that 
a  complete  cave-town,  capable  of  containing  several  thousand 
inhabitants,  has  been  hollowed  out  in  its  flanks.  The  largest 
excavation  was,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  chief  temple.  The  smaller 
caves,  arranged  according  to  the  same  plan,  likewise  served 
for  devotional  purposes;  and  the  rest  were  dwellings  more  or 
,less  commodious  and  large  according  to  the  rank  or  means 
of  their  possessors,  or,  what  is  still  more  likely,  the  abode  of 
pious  Brahmans  and  their  scholars  at  the  time  when  India 
was  the  cradle  of  arts  and  sciences,  while  the  nations  of 
Europe  were  still  plunged  in  barbarism. 

From  the  summit  of  this  wonderful  mountain  the  spectator 
enjoys  a  beautiful  prospect.  The  island  of  Salsette  lies 
before  him  as  if  spread  out  on  a  map,  affording  a  most 
agreeable  variety  of  rice-fields  and  cocoa-nut  groves,  of 
villages  and  meadows,  of  woody  hills  and  fruitful  vales.  The 
surrounding  mountains  form  a  foreground  of  grey  rocks, 
dotted  with  trees,  or  excavated  into  dark  grottoes,  once  the 
abode  of  fakirs,  but  now  the  retreats  of  tigers,  snakes,  huge 
bats,  and  enormous  swarms  of  bees,  while  towards  the  south 
the  horizon  is  bounded  by  the  island  of  Bombay,  with  its 
forest  of  masts,  towards  the  east  by  the  mainland,  towards 
the  north  by  Bassein  and  the  neighbouring  mountains,  and 
towards  the  south  by  the  ocean.  The  enjoyment  of  the 
picturesque  scene  is  marred  only  by  the  many  tigers  which 
infest  the  mountains,  and  frequently  descend  into  the  plain, 
where  they  not  only  carry  away  sheep  and  oxen,  but  also 
tear  many  a  poor  Hindoo  to  pieces. 

The  rock-temples  of  Kanara  are  rivalled  by  those  of  Ele- 
phanta,  Karli,  and  Ajunta.,  and  far  surpassed  in  magnificence 
and  extent  by  the  excavations  of  Ellora,  near  the  town  and 
fort  of  Dowlatabad,  where  a  whole  mountain  of  hard  red 
granite  has  been  hollowed  out   into  an  immense  range  of 


184  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

highly  ornamented  grottoes  and  temples,  fit  for  the  residence 
of  a  whole  pantheon  of  deities,  and  for  the  reception  of  a 
whole  nation  of  pilgrims. 

About  three  miles  to  the  north  of  Madras,  where  the  rock 
touches  the  sea,  navigators  had  long  remarked  some  pillars 
of  stone  rising  from  the  water  and  covered  with  rude  sculp- 
tures. From  these  the  spot  received  the  name  of  the  Seven 
Pagodas.  Most  of  them  have  since  been  destroyed  by  the 
tides,  and  one  only  is  still  standing,  though  tottering  to  its 
fall.  These,  however,  were  but  the  advanced  posts  of  the 
colossal  excavations  in  the  rocky  wall  behind ;  for  here  also 
are  seen  large  grottoes,  porticoes,  and  temples,  as  at  Ellora, 
though  of  somewhat  smaller  proportions,  and  of  less  beautiful 
execution.  They  are  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Yishnu 
and  Siva,  and  covered  with  inscriptions.  A  whole  rock- town, 
or  at  least  a  vast  sanctuary,  thus  lies  concealed  on  this 
solitary  coast. 

Similar  cave -temples  are  met  with  in  Cochin  China,  Birmah, 
Malwah,  and  Ceylon,  where  the  spacious  rock-temple  of 
Dambool  is  deservedly  celebrated  for  its  antiquity,  and  for 
its  numerous  statues  of  Buddha,  in  the  varied  attitudes  of 
exhortation  and  repose. 

On  the  banks  of  the  mysterious  Nile  we  find  rock-temples 
rivalling  those  of  India  in  colossal  grandeur,  and  among 
these  Ipsamboul  is  pre-eminent  in  splendour. 

'  After  sailing  for  some  hours,'  says  Warburton,*  *  through 
a  country  quite  level  on  the  eastern  bank,  we  come  upon  a 
precipitous  rocky  mountain,  starting  up  so  suddenly  from 
the  river's  edge,  that  its  very  summits  are  reflected  in  the 
water.  We  moored  under  a  sand-bank,  and,  accompanied  by 
half-a-dozen  of  the  crew  with  torches,  approached  this  iso- 
lated and  stupendous  rock.  Yet  even  here  the  daring  genius 
of  Ethiopian  architecture  ventured  to  enter  into  rivalry 
with  Nature's  greatness,  and  found  her  material  in  the  very 
mountains  that  seemed  to  bid  defiance  to  her  efforts. 

'  On  the  face  of  the  vertical  cliff  a  recess  is  excavated  to 
the  extent  of  about  a  hundred  feet  in  width.  From  this 
four  gigantic  figures  stand  out  in  very  bold  relief.  Between 
the  two  central  stony  giants,  a  lofty  doorway  opens  into  a 

*  '  The  Crescent  and  the  Cross.' 


KOCK-TEMPLES    OF    IPSAMBOUL.  185 

vast  hall,  supported  by  square  pillars,  each  the  size  of  a 
tower,  and  covered  with  hieroglyphics.  Just  enough  painting- 
still  glimmers  faintly  on  these  columns  to  show  that  they 
were  formerly  covered  with  it;  and  the  walls  are  carved 
into  historic  figures  in  slight  relief;  these,  as  our  torches 
threw  an  uncertain  glare  over  them,  seemed  to  move  and 
become  instinct  with  life. 

'  This  temple  was  dedicated  to  Athor,  the  lady  of  Aboccis 
(the  ancient  name  of  Ipsamboul),  who  is  represented  within 
under  the  form  of  the  sacred  bow.  This  was,  however,  a 
mere  "  chapel  of  ease  "  to  the  great  temple,  excavated  from  a 
loftier  rock,  about  fifty  yards  distant.  Between  these  two  a 
deep  gorge  once  ran  to  the  river,  but  this  is  now  choked  up 
with  sand,  in  whose  burning  waves  we  waded  knee- deep  to 
the  Temple  of  Osiris. 

'  Here  a  space  of  about  100  feet  in  height  is  hewn  from  the 
mountain  ;  smooth,  except  for  the  reliefs.  Along  the  summit 
runs  a  frieze  of  little  monkeys  in  long  array,  as  if  the  archi- 
tect felt  the  absurdity  of  the  whole  business,  or  as  Byron 
sometimes  finishes  off  a  sublime  sentence  with  a  scoff. 
Then  succeeds  a  line  of  hieroglyphics  and  some  faintly- 
carved  figures,  also  in  relief,  and  then  four  colossal  giants 
that  seem  to  guard  the  portal.  They  are  seated  on  thrones 
(which  form,  with  themselves,  part  of  the  living  rock),  and 
are  about  sixty  feet  high.  One  is  quite  perfect,  admirably 
cut,  and  the  proportions  admirably  preserved  ;  the  second  is 
defaced  as  far  as  the  knee ;  the  third  is  buried  in  sand  to 
the  waist ;  and  the  fourth  has  only  the  face  and  neck  visible 
above  the  desert's  sandy  avalanche. 

6  The  doorway  stands  between  the  two  central  statues,  and 
is  surmounted  by  the  statue  of  Isis  wearing  the  moon  as  a 
turban. 

'  On  entering,  the  traveller  finds  himself  in  a  temple,  which 
a  few  days'  work  might  restore  to  the  state  in  which  it  was 
left,  just  finished,  three  thousand  years  ago.  The  dry  climate 
and  its  extreme  solitude  have  preserved  its  most  delicate 
details  from  injury ;  besides  which  it  was  hermetically  sealed 
by  the  desert  for  thousands  of  years,  until  Burckhardt  dis- 
covered it,  and  Mr.  Hay  cleared  away  its  protecting  sands. 

'  A  vast  and  gloomy  hall,  such  as  Eblis  might  have  given 


186  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Vathek  audience  in,  receives  you  in  passing  from  the  flaming 
sunshine  into  that  shadowy  portal.  It  is  some  time  before 
the  eye  can  ascertain  its  dimensions  through  the  imposing 
gloom,  but  gradually  there  reveals  itself,  around  and  above 
you,  a  vast  aisle,  with  pillars  formed  of  eight  colossal  giants, 
upon  whom  the  light  of  heaven  has  never  shone.  These 
images  of  Osiris  are  backed  by  enormous  pillars,  behind 
which  run  two  great  galleries ;  and  in  these  torchlight  alone 
enabled  us  to  peruse  a  series  of  sculptures  in  relief  repre- 
senting the  triumphs  of  Rameses  the  Second,  or  Sesostris. 
The  painting,  which  once  enhanced  the  effect  of  these 
spirited  representations,  is  not  dimmed,  but  crumbled  away  ; 
where  it  exists  the  colours  are  as  vivid  as  ever. 

'  This  unequalled  hall  is  one  hundred  feet  in  length,  and 
from  it  eight  lesser  chambers,  all  sculptured,  open  to  the 
right  and  left.  Straight  on  is  a  low  doorway  opening  into 
a  second  hall  of  similar  height,  supported  by  four  square 
pillars,  and  within  all  is  the  adytum,  wherein  stands  a 
simple  altar  of  the  living  rock  in  front  of  four  large  figures 
seated  on  rocky  thrones.  This  inner  shrine  is  hewn  at  least 
one  hundred  yards  into  the  rock,  and  here,  in  the  silent 
depth  of  that  great  mountain,  these  awful  idols,  with  their 
mysterious  altar  of  human  sacrifice,  looked  very  preadamitic 
and  imposing.  They  seemed  to  sit  there  waiting  for  some 
great  summons  which  should  awaken  and  reanimate  these 
"  kings  of  the  earth,  who  lie  in  glory,  every  one  in  his  own 
house." 

*  We  wandered  through  many  chambers,  in  which  the  air 
is  so  calm  and  undisturbed  that  the  very  smell  of  the  torches 
of  the  last  explorers  of  these  caverns  was  perceptible.' 

In  Abyssinia  the  rock-churches  of  Lalibala  likewise  give 
proof  of  an  ancient  state  of  civilisation,  strongly  contrasting 
with  the  barbarism  of  the  present  times. 

Like  the  temples  of  Ellora,  some  of  these  curious  struc- 
tures have  been  hollowed  out  of  single  blocks  of  stone  left 
standing  in  the  centre  of  open  courts  excavated  in  the 
bosom  of  the  rock,  while  others  are  completely  subter- 
ranean. Though  far  inferior  in  magnificence  and  extent 
to  those  wonderful  edifices,  they  are  yet  very  remark- 
able.    The  courts,  in  which  the  three  principal  monolithic 


ROCK-CHURCHES    OF    LALIBALA.  187 

churches  are  respectively  dedicated  to  our  Saviour,  to  the 
Holy  Virgin,  and  to  St.  Emmanuel,  communicate  with  each 
other  by  narrow  passages,  the  whole  thus  forming  a  con- 
tinued series  of  excavations.  The  Church  of  St.  Emmanuel  is 
forty-eight  feet  long,  thirty-two  feet  broad,  and  forty  feet 
high,  but  it  is  surpassed  in  size  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  where  the  rock- walls  of  the  court  are  moreover  per- 
forated with  sepulchral  vaults  and  with  cells  for  the  habita- 
tion of  monks.  The  town  of  Lalibala  is  situated  in  a 
beautiful  country,  7,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  on 
the  slope  of  the  mighty  Ascheten  mountain,  and  commands  a 
prospect  of  Alpine  magnificence.  Though  it  is  now  reduced 
to  about  2,000  inhabitants,  its  eight  rock-churches  (five 
monolithic  and  subaerial,  three  subterranean),  prove  that  it 
must  once  have  been  a  place  of  considerable  importance. 
Divine  service  is  still  performed  in  all  these  churches,  which 
are  the  resort  of  numerous  pilgrims,  and  to  whose  service 
above  500  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  are  attached. 

Though  ancient  Greece  has  no  such  huge  rock-temples  to 
boast  of  as  India  or  Egypt,  yet  caverns  played  an  important 
part  in  her  ancient  religious  history.  '  Before  the  old  tribes 
of  Hellas  erected  temples  to  the  divinities,'  says  Porphyry,  in 
his  treatise  De  Antro  Nympharum,  '  they  consecrated  caves 
and  grottoes  to  their  service ;  in  the  island  of  Crete  to  Zeus, 
in  Arcadia  to  Artemis  and  to  Pan ;  in  the  isle  of  Naxos  to 
Dionysos.' 

Caves  were  the  site  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
Grecian  oracles.  The  tripod  of  the  Delphian  pythoness  stood 
over  a  subterranean  hollow,  from  which  the  divine  inspiration 
was  supposed  to  ascend ;  and  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of 
Hellas  resorted  to  a  cave  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lebadeia, 
a  city  of  Boeotia,  and  named  after  Trophonios,  a  mythical 
personage  who  was  supposed  to  have  lived  there  for  many 
years,  and  was  subsequently  deified  as  an  oracular  god.  Those 
who  repaired  to  this  cave  for  information  were  required,  after 
passing  some  preparatory  days  in  a  chapel  dedicated  to 
Fortune  and  to  the  '  good  genius,'  to  anoint  themselves  with 
oil,  to  bathe  in  a  certain  river,  and  to  drink  of  the  water  of  two 
neighbouring  springs  called  Lethe  and  Mnemosyne,  the  first 
of  which  made  them  forgetful  of  the  past,  while  the  second 


188  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

fixed  iii  their  memory  all  they  heard  and  saw  in  the 
cavern.  They  were  then  clothed  in  a  linen  robe,  took  a 
honeyed  cake  in  their  hands,  and,  after  praying  before  an 
ancient  statue  of  Trophonios,  descended  into  the  subter- 
ranean chamber  by  a  narrow  passage.  Here  it  was  that  the 
future  was  unfolded  to  them,  either  by  visions  or  extraor- 
dinary sounds.  The  return  from  the  cave  was  by  the  same 
passage,  but  the  persons  consulting  were  obliged  to  walk 
backwards.  They  generally  came  out  astonished,  melan- 
choly, and  dejected.  The  priests  on  their  return  placed  them 
on  an  elevated  seat,  called  the  seat  of  Mnemosyne  or  remem- 
brance, and  the  broken  sentences  they  uttered  in  their  con- 
fused state  of  mind  were  considered  as  the  answer  of  the 
oracle.  They  were  then  conducted  to  the  chapel  of  the 
*  good  genius,'  where  by  degrees  they  recovered  their  usual 
composure  and  cheerfulness.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
priests  introduced  themselves  into  the  cave  by  secret  pass- 
ages, and  worked  upon  the  excited  imagination  of  their  dupes 
by  terrible  sounds  and  apparitions.  During  the  palmy  days 
of  the  oracle,  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Cave  of  Trophonios 
was  decorated  with  temples  and  statues  ;  at  present  its  very 
site  is  uncertain. 

Like  ancient  paganism,  Christianity  not  seldom  celebrates 
her  rites  in  caves  hallowed  by  the  memory  of  saints  and 
anchorites.  A  stately  church  rises  over  the  Grotto  of  the 
Nativity,  at  Bethlehem,  and  a  magnificent  pile  has  been  con- 
structed at  Jerusalem  over  the  rock-tomb  in  which  our 
Saviour  was  buried.  The  grotto  on  Mount  Carmel,  to  which 
the  prophet  Elijah  retreated  from  the  world,  is  now  dedicated 
to  divine  worship,  in  the  convent  which  bears  his  name ;  and 
the  cave  in  which  John  the  Evangelist  is  said  to  have  written 
the  Apocalypse  during  his  exile  in  the  island  of  Patmos  has 
also  been  converted  into  a  chapel. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  rock-churches  is  the  grotto  of 
St.  Rosolia,  the  patroness  of  Palermo.  This  illustrious  lady 
was  niece  to  King  William  the  Good,  and,  as  the  legends 
inform  us,  no  less  remarkable  for  her  beauty  than  for  her 
virtues,  which  made  her  the  admiration  of  all  Sicily.  Never 
was  a  princess  more  fitted  to  adorn  society  ;  but  the  world  had 
so  few  attractions  for  a  spirit  that  could  only  breathe  in  the 


CAVE    OF   ST.    ROSOLIA.  1S9 

pure  regions  of  piety,  that,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  she  retired  to 
the  solitary  mountains,  and,  from  the  date  of  her  disappear- 
ance, in  1159,  was  never  more  heard  of  for  about  five  hundred 
years.  The  people  thought  she  had  been  taken  up  to  heaven, 
as  the  fitting  abode  for  her  more  than  human  perfections ; 
but  in  the  year  1624,  during  the  time  of  a  dreadful  plague,  a 
holy  man  had  a  vision  that  the  saint's  bones  were  lying  in  a 
cave  near  to  the  top  of  the  Monte  Pellegrino,  and  that  if  these 
were  taken  up  with  due  reverence  and  carried  in  procession 
thrice  round  the  walls  of  the  city,  they  should  immediately 
be  delivered  from  the  scourge.  The  bones  were  accordingly 
sought  and  found,  thrice  carried  round  the  town,  as  the  vision 
had  described,  and  the  plague  suddenly  ceased.  From  that 
time  St.  Rosolia  was  revered  as  the  patron  saint  of  Palermo, 
and  the  remote  cave  where  she  probably  spent  many  years  of 
her  solitary  life,  became  one  of  the  most  renowned  sanctuaries 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  resort  of  innumerable  pilgrims. 
The  mountain  is  extremely  high,  and  so  steep  that  before  the 
discovery  of  St.  Rosolia  it  was  looked  upon  as  almost  inacces- 
sible ;  but  a  fine  road,  very  properly  termed  La  Scala,  or  the 
stair,  has  been  cut  out  in  the  rock,  and  leads  from  terrace  to 
terrace,  over  almost  perpendicular  precipices,  to  the  entrance 
of  the  holy  grotto,  which  is  situated  near  the  very  top  of  the 
mountain,  and  commands  a  magnificent  prospect.  Within 
two  miles  of  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  the  eye  discerns  the  city 
of  Palermo,  with  its  beautiful  villas  and  luxuriant  gardens, 
and  then,  taking  a  wider  range,  glances  to  the  north,  over 
the  dark  blue  sea  bounded  by  the  Lipari  Islands  and  the  ever- 
fuming  cone  of  Stromboli ;  while  to  the  east  a  large  portion  of 
Etna,  although  at  the  distance  of  almost  the  whole  length  of 
Sicily,  towers  like  a  giant  above  the  minor  mountain  chains. 
A  church  and  other  buildings,  forming  a  kind  of  court 
yard,  where  some  priests  reside,  appointed  to  watch  over  the 
treasures  of  the  place,  and  to  receive  the  offerings  of  pilgrims 
that  visit  them,  have  been  erected  round  the  grotto. 

As  ma}'  easily  be  imagined,  the  history  of  rock-chapels  has 
frequently  been  embellished  with  legendary  tales.  The  chapel 
of  Agios  Mketas  (St.  Nicholas)  in  Crete,  is  at  present  merely 
a  smoky-looking  cave  beneath  a  large  detached  mass  of  rock, 
lying  on  the  slope  of  an  abrupt  mountain  ;  but  there  are  still 


190  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  remains  of  a  building  which  once  extended  far  beyond 
the  present  limits.  The  roof  of  the  cavern,  although  very 
uneven,  is  also  elaborately  ornamented  with  paintings,  re- 
presenting the  remarkable  events  in  the  life  of  the  Saviour 
and  of  St.  Nicholas,  and  showing  that  considerable  cost  and 
artistic  care  have  been  bestowed  upon  it.  Though  it  is  now 
abandoned,  an  event  that  is  said  to  have  happened  about  four 
or  five  centuries  ago  gives  this  cave  a  special  interest  with  the 
natives.  The  church  was  crowded  with  Christians  from  the 
adjacent  villages  on  the  eve  of  the  festival  of  their  patron 
saint  Agios  Mketas,  so  as  to  be  ready  (as  is  usual  with  the 
Greeks)  for  the  matin  service  at  daybreak.  But  the  fires 
which  the  assembled  party  had  lighted  near  it  had  been 
observed  at  sea  by  a  Barbary  corsair  then  cruising  off  the 
island,  and  guided  him  to  the  spot,  where,  under  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  he  landed  his  crew  in  a  neighbouring  cove. 
Thus  unobserved,  they  stole  up  to  the  church,  and,  finding  it 
full  of  the  natives,  closed  the  door  and  windows  upon  them, 
and  waited  for  day,  the  better  to  secure  their  captives  for 
embarkation.  In  this  dreadful  plight  the  unfortunate  Cre- 
tans raised  their  voices  in  a  general  prayer  to  Saint  Mketas. 
Their  supplications  were  heard,  for  the  priest  soon  after  in- 
formed them  that  the  saint  had  shown  him  a  way  of  escape 
— through  the  back  part  of  the  cavern,  by  opening  a  small 
aperture  communicating  with  another  cavern  that  led  finally 
out  upon  the  mountain  slope  over  the  rock.  Through  this 
aperture  they  all  silently  crept  unseen  and  unheard  by 
the  corsairs. 

Another  interesting  legend  is  attached  to  a  small  rock- 
chapel  situated  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Castle  of 
Oberstein,  on  the  Nahe.  The  Baron  of  Oberstein,  having,  in  a 
fit  of  jealousy,  hurled  his  younger  brother  from  the  balcony  of 
the  castle,  fled  from  the  scene  of  his  crime.  For  years  he 
wandered,  a  wretched  outcast,  from  land  to  land ;  but  wher- 
ever he  went  the  curse  of  Cain  was  upon  him,  and  left  him 
no  rest  by  night  or  day.  At  length  he  came  to  Rome,  to  con- 
fess his  fratricide  at  the  feet  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  who 
comforted  him  with  the  assurance  that  he  would  recover  his 
lost  peace  by  returning  to  Oberstein  and  excavating  with  his 
own  hands  a  rock-chapel  for  the  interment  of  his  brother  on 
the  spot  where  he  fell. 


ROCK-CHAPEL    OF   OBERSTEIN.  191 

Soon  after  the  self-banished  lord  made  his  appearance  at 
Oberstein  in  a  hermit's  garb,  and  set  to  work  upon  the  hard 
rock  with  indefatigable  zeal.  Never  was  labour  performed 
with  better  will,  and  such,  consequently,  was  the  progress 
of  the  excavation  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  assisted  by  the 
angels  in  his  penitential  task.  At  the  expiration  of  four 
years,  the  rock-chapel  was  completed,  and  the  bones  of  the 
murdered  man  were  conveyed  with  great  ceremony  to  the 
tomb  which  had  been  prepared  for  their  reception  at  the  foot 
of  the  altar.  As  soon  as  they  were  lowered  into  the  grave, 
the  murderer  bent  over  them  ;  a  smile  of  ineffable  happiness 
was  seen  to  illumine  his  emaciated  features,  and  he  dropped 
down  dead  upon  the  remains  of  his  brother. 


192  THE    SUBTEERANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

ICE-CAVES    AND    WIND-HOLES. 

Ice-caves  of  St.  Georges  and  St.  Livres — Beautiful  Ice-stalagmites  in  the  Cave  of 
La  Baume — The  Schafloch — Ice  Cataract  in  the  Upper  Grlaciere  of  St.  Livres 
— Ice  Cavern  of  Eisenerz — The  Cave  of  Yeermalik — Volcanic  Ice-caves — JEolian 
Caverns  of  Terni — Causes  of  the  low  temperature  of  Ice-caves. 

SOME  caves,  remarkable  for  an  extremely  low  temperature 
even  in  summer,  form  natural  ice-cellars,  though  uncon- 
nected with  glaciers  or  snow  mountains,  and  in  latitudes  and 
at  altitudes  where  ice  could  not  under  ordinary  circumstances 
be  supposed  to  exist.  Besides  the  interest  attaching  to  these 
natural  curiosities,  these  ice-caves  are  sometimes  lucrative 
sources  of  revenue  to  their  owners,  or  answer  various  pur- 
poses of  use  or  comfort. 

In  hot  summers,  when  the  supplies  of  the  artificial  ice- 
houses fail  in  Geneva  and  Lausanne,  the  hotel-keepers  have 
recourse  to  the  stores  laid  up  for  them  by  nature  in  the  ice  - 
caves  or  glacieres  of  St.  Georges  and  St.  Livres,  situated  in 
the  canton  of  Vaud,  on  the  slope  of  the  Jura.  Other  ice-caves 
are  made  use  of  as  dairies,  or  as  storehouses  for  cheese  ;  and 
the  quarries  of  Niedermendig,  near  the  small  town  of  Ander- 
nach,  on  the  Rhine,  which  are  likewise  remarkable  for  a 
glacial  temperature,  serve  as  excellent  beer-cellars. 

To  Mr.  Browne,  who  has  made  them  his  special  study,  we 
are  indebted  for  an  interesting  account  of  the  ice-caves  of 
Erance  and  Switzerland,*  which,  as  may  naturally  be  ex- 
pected in  halls  and  galleries  hung  with  drapery  of  trans- 
parent silver,  not  seldom  offer  scenes  of  beauty  rivalling  the 
most  renowned  stalactital  grottoes. 

In  the  Glaciere  of  Grace-Dieu,  or  La  Baume,  near  Besancon, 

*  '  Ice  Caves  of  Erance  and  Switzerland:  a  Narrative  of  Subterranean  Explora- 
tion.'    By  the  Rpv.  G.  F.  Browne.     Longmans,  1865. 


ICE-CAVE    OF    LA    BAUME. 


11)3 


Mr.  Browne  was  particularly  struck  with  three  large  stalag- 
mites of  ice  rising  in  a  line  across  the  middle  of  the  cave. 
The  central  mass  was  remarkable  only  for  its  size,  the  girih 
being  sixty-six  and  a  half  feet  at  some  distance  from  the  ice- 
floor,  with  which  it  blended;  but  nothing  could  be  more  strik- 
ingly lovely  than  the  stalagmite  to  its  right,  owing  to  the 


XnVKK  ULACIEKE  OF   ST.   LIVKES. 


good  taste  of  some  one,  who  had  found  that  much  ice  was 
wont  to  accumulate  ..on  that  spot,  and  had  accordingly  fixed 
the  trunk  of  a  small  fir-tree,  with  the  upper  branches  com- 
plete, to  receive  the  water  from  the  corresponding  fissure  in 
the  roof.  The  consequence  was  that,  while  the  actual  tree 
had  vanished  from  sight  under  its  crystal  covering,  the  ice 
with  which  it  was  incrusted  showed  every  elegance  of  form 

o 


194  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

which  a  mould  so  graceful  could  suggest,  each  twig  of  the 
different  boughs  becoming,  to  all  appearance,  a  solid  bar  of 
frosted  ice,  from  which  complicated  groups  of  icicles  streamed 
down.  But  the  mass  to  the  left  was  the  grandest  and  most 
beautiful  of  all.  It  consisted  of  two  lofty  heads,  like  weeping 
willows  in  Carrara  marble,  with  three  or  four  others  less 
lofty,  resembling  a  family  group  of  lions'  heads  in  a  subdued 
attitude  of  grief,  richly  decked  with  icy  manes.  Similar 
heads  seemed  to  grow  out  here  and  there  from  the  solid 
sides  of  the  huge  mass,  which  measured  seventy-six  and  a  half 
feet  in  girth  about  two  feet  from  the  floor.  When  this 
column  was  looked  at  from  the  side  removed  from  the  en- 
trance to  the  cave,  so  that  it  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  light 
which  poured  down  the  long  slope  from  the  outer  world,  the 
transparency  of  the  ice  made  the  whole  look  as  if  it  were  set 
in  a  narrow  frame  of  impalpable  liquid  blue — the  effect  of 
light  penetrating  through  the  mass  at  its  extreme  edges. 

Other  and  no  less  striking  beauties  rewarded  our  subter- 
ranean explorer  on  his  visit  to  the  Schafloch  or  Trou-aux- 
Moutons,  a  vast  ice- cave  on  the  Rothhorn,  in  the  canton  of 
Berne,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that,  when  a 
sudden  storm  comes  on,  the  sheep  and  goats  make  their  way 
to  it  for  shelter,  though  never  going  so  far  as  the  spot 
where  the  ice  begins.  On  entering  the  cave  the  way  lies 
over  a  wild  confusion  of  loose  masses  of  stone,  which  soon, 
however,  begin  to  be  intermingled  with  ice,  until  the  latter 
entirely  hides  the  naked  rock  under  a  crystal  mantle. 

'  On  either  side  of  the  cave  was  a  grand  column  of  ice, 
forming  the  portal,  as  it  were,  through  which  we  must  pass 
to  further  beauties.  The  ice-floor  rose  to  meet  these  columns 
in  a  graceful  swelling  curve,  perfectly  continuous,  so  that 
the  general  effect  w^as  that  of  two  columns  whose  roots  ex- 
panded and  met  in  the  middle  of  the  cave.  Convinced  that 
internal  investigations  would  prove  interesting,  I  began  to 
chop  a  hole  in  one  of  the  pillars  about  two  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  having  made  an  entrance  sufficiently  large,  pro- 
ceeded to  get  into  the  cavity  which  presented  itself.  The 
flooring  of  the  dome- shaped  grotto  in  which  I  found  myself 
was  loose  rock,  at  a  level  of  about  two  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ice-floor,  on  which  my  guide  Christian  still  stood.     The 


GLACIERES   OF   ST.    LIVRES.  195 

dome  itself  was  not  high  enough  to  allow  me  to  stand  up- 
right, and  from  the  roof,  principally  from  the  central  part, 
a  complex  mass  of  delicate  icicles  passed  down  to  the  floor, 
leaving  a  narrow  burrowing  passage  round,  which  was  itself 
invaded  by  icicles  from  the  lower  part  of  the  sloping  roof, 
and  by  stubborn  stalagmites  of  ice  rising  from  the  floor. 
The  details  of  this  central  cluster  of  icicles,  and,  in  fact,  of 
every  portion  of  the  interior  of  the  strange  grotto  were  ex- 
ceedingly lovely,  and  I  crushed  with  much  regret,  on  hands 
and  knees,  through  fair  crystal  forests  and  frozen  dreams  of 
beauty.  In  making  the  tour  of  this  grotto,  contorting  my 
body  like  a  snake,  to  get  in  and  out  among  the  ice-pillars, 
and  do  as  little  damage  as  might  be,  I  yet,  with  all  my 
care,  was  accompanied  by  the  incessant  shiver  and  clatter  of 
breaking  and  falling  ice.  Having  squeezed  myself  out  again 
through  the  narrow  hole,  I  now  passed  between  the  two 
gigantic  columns,  and  found  that  the  sea  of  ice  became  still 
broader  and  bolder,  until  we  came  to  the  edge  of  a  glorious 
ice- fall,  round  and  smooth  and  perfectly  unbroken,  passing 
down  like  the  rapids  of  some  river  too  deep  for  its  surface  to 
be  disturbed,  and  plunging  majestically  into  a  dark  gulf,  of 
which  we  could  see  neither  the  roof  nor  the  end.' 

We  will  now  follow  Mr.  Browne  to  the  Upper  Glaciere  of 
St.  Livres,  where  the  interesting  discovery  was  made  that 
the  ice-stream  which  filled  the  cave,  instead  of  terminating 
with  the  wall  of  rock  at  its  end,  turned  off  to  the  right,  and 
was  lost  in  darkness.  By  tying  a  candle  to  a  long  stick, 
and  thrusting  it  down  the  slope  of  ice,  it  was  further  found 
that  the  stream  passed  down  at  a  very  steep  incline,  and 
poured  under  a  narrow  and  low  arch  in  the  wall  of  the  cave, 
beyond  which  nothing  could  be  seen.  Steps  were  now  cut 
down  the  slope  by  one  of  the  party,  who  was  carefully  let 
down,  and,  his  work  being  completed,  the  others  followed 
him  through  the  arch — a  rather  awkward  undertaking,  for, 
on  pushing  through,  their  breasts  were  pressed  on  to  the 
ice,  while  their  backs  scraped  against  the  rock  which  formed 
the  roof. 

6  As  soon  as  this  trough  was  passed,'  says  Mr.  Browne, 
6  the  ice  spread  out  like  a  fan,  and  finally  landed  us  in  a 
second  cavern,  72  feet  long  by  36  feet  broad,  to  which  this 

o  2 


196 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


was  the  only  entrance.  The  breadth  of  the  fan  at  the 
bottom  was  27  feet,  and  near  the  archway  a  very  striking 
column  poured  from  a  vertical  fissure  in  the  wall,  and  joined 
the  main  stream.  The  fissure  was  partially  open  to  the 
cave,  and  showed  the  solid  round  column  within  the  rock  : 
this  column  measured  18-J  feet  in  circumference,  a  little 
below  the  point  where  it  became  free  of  the  fissure,  and  it 
had  a  stream  of  ice  22  feet  long  pouring  from  its  base. 
The  peculiar  structure  of  the  ice  gave  the  whole  mass  the 


ICE  STREAMS  IX  THE   UITER   GLACIERE   OF   ST.   LIVKES. 


appearance  of  coursing  down  very  rapidly,  as  if  the  water 
had  been  frozen  while  thus  moving,  and  had  not  therefore 
ceased  so  to  move.  ...  At  the  farthest  end  of  the  cave, 
a  lofty  dome  opened  up  in  the  roof,  beneath  which  a  very 
lovely  cluster  of  columns  had  grouped  itself,  formed  of  clear 
porcelain-like  ice,  and  fretted  and  festooned  with  the  utmost 
delicacy,  as  if  Andersen's  Ice  Maiden  had  been  there  in  one 
of  her  amiable  moods  and  had  built  herself  a  palace.' 

In  Upper  Styria,  the  Frauenmauer  Mountain,  which  over- 


ICE-CAVE    OF   YERMALIK.  197 

looks  the  mining  town  of  Eisenerz,  contains  a  remarkable 
ice-chamber,  consisting  of  a  grotto  from  thirty  to  forty 
fathoms  long,  decked  with  ice-crystals,  pillars  of  ice,  and 
cascades  of  the  same  material,  the  floor  being  composed  of 
ice  as  smooth  as  glass.  In  the  summer  pleasure  parties 
assemble  in  the  cave,  and  amuse  themselves  with  sliding 
down  its  sloping  ice-floors. 

In  his  work  on  the  Natural  Wonders  of  the  Austrian 
Empire,  the  naturalist  Sartori  describes  his  visit  to  an 
ice-cave  on  the  Brandstein,  a  peak  situated  in  the  same 
district,  which  thus  appears  to  be  rich  in  glacieres.  He 
found  crimpons  necessary  for  descending  the  frozen  snow, 
which  led  from  the  entrance  to  the  floor  of  the  cave, 
where  he  discovered  pillars  and  capitals  and  pyramids  of 
ice  of  every  possible  shape  and  variety,  as  if  the  cave  had 
contained  the  ruins  of  a  Gothic  church  or  a  fairy  palace. 
At  the  further  end,  after  passing  large  cascades  of  ice,  his 
party  reached  a  dark  grey  hole,  which  lighted  up  into  blue 
and  green  under  the  influence  of  the  torches ;  they  could 
not  discover  the  end  of  this  hole,  and  the  stones  which  they 
rolled  down  into  it  seemed  to  go  on  for  ever. 

Other  natural  glacieres  are  also  mentioned  as  occurring  in 
Bohemia,  Hungary,  the  Harz,  in  several  places  in  North 
America,  and  probably  there  are  few  mountainous  regions 
without  them. 

The  Cave  of  Yermalik,  already  mentioned  among  the 
silent  retreats  of  nature  which  have  been  rendered  infamous 
by  the  cruelty  of  man,  is  likewise  highly  interesting  as  a 
natural  glaciere.  After  leaving  the  roomy  dome  in  which 
they  found  the  skeletons  of  the  victims  of  Genghis  Khan, 
Captain  Burslem  and  Lieutenant  Sturt  proceeded  through 
several  low  arches  and  smaller  caves,  and  reached  at  length 
a  vast  hall,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  an  enormous  mass  of 
clear  ice,  smooth  and  polished  as  a  mirror,  and  in  the  form 
of  a  gigantic  beehive,  with  its  dome-shaped  top  just  touching 
the  long  icicles  which  depended  from  the  jagged  surface  of  the 
rock.  A  small  aperture  led  to  the  interior  of  this  wonderful 
congelation,  which  was  divided  into  several  compartments  of 
every  fantastic  shape.  In  some  the  glittering  icicles  hung 
like  curtains  from  the  roof ;  in  others,  the  vault  was  smooth 


198  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

as  glass.  Beautifully  brilliant  were  the  prismatic  colours 
reflected  from  the  varied  surface  of  the  ice  when  the  torches 
flashed  suddenly  upon  them  as  they  passed  from  cave  to 
cave.  Around,  above,  beneath,  everything  was  of  solid  ice, 
and  being  unable  to  stand  on  account  of  its  slippery  nature, 
they  slid,  or  rather  glided  mysteriously,  along  the  glassy 
surface  of  this  hall  of  spells.  In  one  of  the  largest  compart- 
ments the  icicles  had  reached  the  floor,  and  gave  the  idea  of 
pillars  supporting  the  roof.'  * 

Rocks  of  volcanic  formation  seem  to  afford  favourable 
opportunities  for  the  congelation  of  water.  Ice-caves  are 
found  in  Mount  Etna,  on  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  and  among 
the  lava-currents  of  Iceland. t  Scrope  visited  one  of  these 
natural  glacieres  near  the  village  of  Roth,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Andernach,  on  the  Rhine.  It  formed  the  mouth  of 
a  deep  fissure  in  a  current  of  basalt  derived  from  an  ancient 
volcanic  cone  above  it,  and  its  floor  was  covered  with  a 
crust  of  ice  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  about  noon  on  a  very 
hot  day  in  August. 

The  phenomenon  of  wind-grottoes  is  analogous  to  that 
of  ice-caves,  and  not  seldom  associated  with  it.  Here 
cold  currents  of  air,  increasing  in  violence  as  the  day 
is  hotter,  are  found  to  blow  from  the  interstices  of  rocks. 
One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  iEolian  caverns  is 
found  near  Terni  in  Italy.  The  entrance  is  closed  by  an 
old  gate,  through  the  crevices  of  which  the  wind  issues  with 
a  rustling  noise,  while  in  the  grotto  itself  the  current  is 
sufficiently  strong  to  extinguish  a  torch.  The  proprietors 
of  some  neighbouring  villas  have  put  the  phenomenon  to  an 
ingenious  use.  Leaden  pipes,  branching  out  from  the  grotto, 
convey  on  sultry  summer  days  an  agreeable  coolness  through 
masks  of  gypsum  with  wide  distended  mouths,  which  are 
fixed  in  the  walls  of  the  apartments. 

The  small  town  of  Roquefort  in  France  has  been  renowned 
ever  since  the  time  of  the  Romans  for  the  delicious  flavour  of 
its  cheese,  which  is  said  to  owe  its  excellence  to  the  cool 
cellars  in  which  it  is  matured.  These  are  excavated  on  the 
northern  slope  of  a  great  chalk  plateau,  and  communicate 
with  numerous  fissures  in  the  rock,  from  which  air-currents 
*  Burslem,  '  A  Peep  into  Toorkistan.'  f  The  Cave  of  Suitshellir. 


WIND-GROTTOES.  199 

stream  forth  of  so  low  a  temperature  as  to  cause  a  thermo- 
meter marking  +23°  R.  in  the  shade,  and  in  the  external 
atmosphere,  to  fall  to  4-4°  E.  when  exposed  to  their  influence. 
The  cellars  are  so  valuable  that  one,  which  cost  12,000 
francs  in  construction,  sold  for  215,000  francs. 

In  times  of  ignorance,  superstition  could  not  fail  to  attach 
its  fables  to  the  phenomenon  of  wind-grottoes.  A  cave  near 
Eisenach  was  supposed  to  be  the  seat  of  purgatory,  and 
popular  credulity  or  terror  willingly  transformed  the  sounds 
produced  by  the  rushing  air-currents  into  the  wailings  of 
tormented  souls. 

Fortunately,  modern  science  affords  us  a  more  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  phenomenon.  Pictet  represents  the  case 
of  a  cave  with  cold  currents  of  air  to  be  much  the  same  as 
that  of  a  mine  with  a  vertical  shaft  ending  in  a  horizontal 
gallery,  of  which  one  extremity  is  in  communication  with 
the  open  air,  at  a  point  much  lower,  of  course,  than  the 
upper  extremity  of  the  shaft.  The  cave  or  wind-hole  corre- 
sponds to  the  horizontal  gallery,  and  the  various  fissures  in 
the  rock  take  the  place  of  the  vertical  shaft,  and  commu- 
nicate freely  with  the  external  air.  In  summer  the  columns 
of  air  contained  in  these  fissures  assume  nearly  the  tem- 
perature of  the  rock  in  which  they  rest — that  is  to  say,  the 
mean  temperature  of  the  district ;  and  therefore  they  are 
heavier  than  the  corresponding  external  columns  of  air 
which  terminate  at  the  mouth  of  the  cave.  The  con- 
sequence is,  that  the  heavy  cool  air  descends  from  the 
fissures,  and  streams  out  into  the  cave,  appearing  as  a  cold 
current,  and  the  hotter  the  day — that  is,  the  lighter  the 
columns  of  external  air — the  more  violent  will  be  the  dis- 
turbance of  equilibrium,  and  therefore  the  more  palpable  the 
current. 

The  evaporation  which  takes  place  as  the  air-currents 
descend  through  the  moist  rock-fissures  likewise  tends  to 
lower  their  temperature.  Several  naturalists  have  attempted 
to  explain  the  phenomena  of  ice-caves  in  a  similar  manner,  as 
being  produced  by  cold  currents  still  further  refrigerated  by 
the  evaporation  caused  in  the  moist  and  porous  rocks  through 
which  they  pass.  But  to  this  theory  there  are  weighty  objec- 
tions, as  in  many  ice- caves  there  is  no  current  whatever,  and 


200  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

in  all  the  cases  of  cold  air  streams  investigated  or  mentioned 
by  De  Saussure,  the  lowest  temperatures  observed  were  still 
considerably  above  the  freezing-point,  and  consequently 
incapable  of  converting  water  into  ice. 

Mr.  Browne  believes  that,  in  many  cases,  the  phenomenon 
may  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  by  the  position  and 
surroundings  of  the  caves  in  which  it  occurs  ;  though,  no 
doubt,  cold  currents  and  evaporation  may  often  have  an 
influence  in  maintaining  the  low  temperature  of  ice-caves. 

In  every  one  of  the  fourteen  natural  glacieres  which  he 
visited,  the  level  at  which  the  ice  was  found  was  considerably 
below  the  level  at  the  entrance  of  the  cave  ;  so  that,  on  ordi- 
nary principles  of  gravitation,  the  heavy  cold  air  within  could 
not  be  dislodged  by  the  lighter  warm  summer  air  without. 
Heat  naturally  spreads  very  slowly  in  a  cave  like  this  ;  and 
even  when  some  amount  of  heat  does  reach  the  ice,  the  latter 
melts  but  slowly,  for  ice  absorbs  60°  C.  in  melting;  and 
thus  when  ice  is  once  formed,  it  becomes  a  material  guarantee 
for  the  permanence  of  cold  in  the  cave. 

Another  means  for  preventing  the  encroachments  of  the 
hotter  seasons  is  the  dense  covering  of  trees  and  shrubs, 
which,  in  the  case  of  many  of  the  glacieres,  shields  their 
entrance  or  their  roof  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  thus 
keeps  off  the  effects  of  direct  radiation.  Mr.  Browne  found 
all  the  glacieres  that  came  under  his  observation  thus  pro- 
tected, with  the  single  exception  of  that  of  St.  Georges, 
where,  in  consequence  of  an  incautious  felling  of  wood  im- 
mediately near  the  mouth,  trunks  of  trees  had  been  laid 
horizontally  over  it,  to  prevent  the  rays  of  the  sun  from 
striking  down  on  to  the  ice.  He  moreover  invariably  found 
that  the  entrances  to  the  caves  were  more  or  less  sheltered 
against  all  winds — a  very  important  condition,  as  air-currents 
from  without  would  infallibly  bring  in  heated  air,  in  spite  of 
the  specific  weight  of  the  cold  air  stored  within.  There  can 
be  no  doubt,  too,  that  the  large  surfaces  which  are  available 
for  evaporation  have  much  to  do  with  maintaining  a  some- 
what lower  temperature  than  the  mean  temperature  of  the 
place  where  the  cave  occurs.  Another  great  advantage 
which  some  glacieres  possess  must  be  borne  in  mind,  namely, 
the  collection  of  snow  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit  in  which  the 


PHENOMENA    OF    ICE-CAVES. 


201 


entrance  lies.  This  snow  absorbs,  in  the  course  of  melting*, 
all  the  heat  which  strikes  down  by  radiation,  or  is  driven 
down  by  accidental  turns  of  the  wind ;  and  the  snow  water 
thus  forced  into  the  cave  will,  at  any  rate,  not  seriously 
injure  the  ice. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how,  in  caves  thus  protected 
against  the  influence  of  summer  heat,  a  great  part  of  the 
ice  accumulated  during  the  winter  may  be  preserved,  and 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  GLACIEHK  OP  ST.   GEORGES. 


that,  for  an  explanation  of  the  phenomenon,  it  is  by  no 
means  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  cold  blasts  descending 
from  the  interior  of  the  rock  in  which  they  are  situated. 
It  is  indeed  a  common  belief  that  the  ice-caves  are  colder 
in  summer  than  in  winter,  and  consequently  contain  a 
greater  abundance  of  ice  during  the  former  season;  but 
this  belief  may  well  be  considered  as  one  of  those  popular 
fallacies,  which — though,  by  dint  of  repetition,  they  come  to 
be  common  articles  of  faith — have  in  fact  no  substantial 
proofs  to  support  them. 


202  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

ROCK    TOMBS    AND    CATACOMBS. 

Biban-el-Moluk,  the  Royal  Tombs  of  Thebes — The  Roman  Catacombs — Their 
Extent — Their  Mode  of  Excavation — Touching  Sepulchral  Inscriptions — Antony 
Bosio.  the  Columbus  of  the  Catacombs — The  Cavaliere  di  Rossi — The  Catacombs 
of  Naples  and  Syracuse — The  Catacombs  of  Paris. 

THE  remoteness  of  caves  and  grottoes  from  the  busy  haunts 
of  life,  their  eternal  silence  and  their  nightly  gloom, 
have  ever  pointed  them  out  as  fit  resting-places  for  the  dead. 
From  the  earliest  times  they  have  been  used  as  sepulchral 
vaults,  and  where  nature  neglected  to  hollow  out  the  rock,  it 
has  often  been  excavated  for  this  purpose  by  the  hand  of 
man. 

Thus  the  Pharaohs  of  Egypt  rested  not  in  temples  and 
mausoleums  reared  in  the  heart  of  cities,  but  they  chose  the 
desert-ravine  for  their  sepulchre,  and  hid  their  tombs  in  deep 
excavations  in  the  earth. 

A  more  impressive  scene  can  hardly  be  imagined  than  that 
which  is  afforded  by  these  splendid  memorials.  Of  all  such 
monuments  which  still  mark  the  site  of  ancient  Thebes, 
perhaps  none  are  more  striking  to  the  traveller  than  the 
royal  tombs — Biban-el-Moluk — which  the  pride  of  monarchs, 
whose  very  name  is  now  a  mystery,  excavated  four  thousand 
years  ago  in  the  bosom  of  the  Libyan  mountains. 

6  The  next  morning  at  daybreak,'  says  Warburton,*  '  we 
started  for  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings.  I  was  mounted  on  a  fine 
horse,  belonging  to  the  sheikh  of  the  village,  and  the  cool  air 
of  the  morning,  the  rich  prospect  before  us,  and  the  cloudless 
sky,  all  conspired  to  impart  life  and  pleasure  to  my  relaxed 
and  languid  frame.  I  had  been  for  a  month  almost  confined 
to   my   pallet   by  illness,    and  now,  mounted  on  a  gallant 

*  '  The  Crescent  and  the  Cross.' 


ROCK- TOMBS    OF   THEBES.  203 

barb,  sweeping  across  the  desert,  with  the  mountain  breezes 
breathing  round  me,  I  felt  a  glow  of  spirits  and  exhilaration 
of  mind  and  body  to  which  I  had  been  long  a  stranger.  For 
a  couple  of  hours  we  continued  along  the  plain,  which  was 
partially  covered  with  wavy  corn,  but  necked  widely  here 
and  there  with  desert  tracts.  Then  we  entered  the  gloomy 
mountain  gorges,  through  which  the  Theban  monarchs 
passed  to  their  tombs.  Our  path  lay  through  a  narrow 
defile,  between  precipitous  cliffs  of  rubble  and  calcareous 
strata,  and  some  large  boulders  of  coarse  conglomerate  lay 
strewn  along  this  desolate  valley,  in  which  no  living  thing  of 
earth  or  air  ever  met  our  view.  The  plains  below  may  have 
been,  perhaps,  once  swarming  with  life  and  covered  with 
palaces ;  but  the  gloomy  defile  we  were  now  traversing  must 
have  ever  been  as  they  now  are,  lonely,  lifeless,  desolate — 
a  fit  avenue  to  the  tombs  for  which  we  were  bound. 

'After  five  or  six  miles'  travel,  our  guide  stopped  at  the 
base  of  one  of  the  precipices,  and,  laying  his  long  spear 
against  the  rock,  proceeded  to  light  his  torches.  There  was 
no  entrance  apparent  at  the  distance  of  a  few  yards,  nor  was 
this  great  tomb  betrayed  to  the  outer  world  by  any  visible 
aperture,  until  discovered  by  Belzoni.  This  extraordinary 
man  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  few  who  have  hit  off  in 
life  the  lot  for  which  Nature  destined  them.  His  sepulchral 
instincts  might  have  been  matter  of  envy  to  the  ghouls; 
with  such  unerring  certainty  did  he  guess  at  the  place  con- 
taining the  embalmed  corpses  most  worthy  of  his  body- 
snatching  energies. 

*  We  descended  by  a  steep  path  into  this  tomb,  through  a 
doorway  covered  with  hieroglyphics,  and  entered  a  corridor 
that  ran  some  hundred  yards  into  the  mountain.  It  was 
about  twenty  feet  square,  and  painted  throughout  most 
elaborately  in  the  manner  of  Eaphael's  Loggia  at  the 
Vatican,  with  little  inferiority  of  skill  or  colouring.  The 
doorways  were  richly  ornamented  with  figures  of  a  larger 
size,  and  over  each  was  the  winged  globe  or  a  huge  scarabseus. 
In  allusion,  probably,  to  the  wanderings  of  the  freed  spirit, 
almost  all  the  larger  emblems  on  these  walls  wore  wings, 
however  incompatible  with  their  usual  vocations  ;  boats, 
globes,  fishes,  and  suns,  all  were  winged.     On  one  of  the 


204  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

corridors  there  is  an  allegory  of  the  progress  of  the  sun 
through  the  hours,  painted  with  great  detail ;  the  god  of  day 
sits  in  a  boat  (in  compliment  to  the  Nile  he  lays  aside  his 
chariot  here),  and  steers  through  the  hours  of  the  day  and 
night,  each  of  the  latter  being  distinguished  by  a  star. 
The  Nile  in  this,  as  in  all  other  circumstances  of  Egyptian 
life,  figures  as  the  most  important  element ;  even  the  blessed 
souls  for  its  sake  assume  the  form  of  fishes,  and  swim  about 
with  angelic  fins  in  this  River  of  Life.  One  gorgeous  passage 
makes  way  into  another  more  gorgeous  still,  until  you  arrive 
at  a  steep  descent.  At  the  base  of  this,  perhaps  400  feet  from 
daylight,  a  doorway  opens  into  a  vaulted  hall  of  noble  pro- 
portions, whose  gloom  considerably  increases  its  apparent 
size.  Here  the  body  of  Osirei,  father  of  Rameses  the  Second, 
was  laid  about  3,200  years  ago,  in  the  beautiful  alabaster 
sarcophagus  which  Belzoni  drew  from  hence,  the  reward 
of  his  enterprise.  Its  poor  occupant,  who  had  taken  such 
pains  to  hide  himself,  was  "  undone  "  for  the  amusement  of  a 
London  conversazione. 

'  There  are  numerous  other  tombs,  all  full  of  interest ;  but 
as  the  reader  who  is  interested  in  such  things  will  consult 
higher  authorities  than  mine,  I  shall  only  add  that  the  whole 
circumstance  of  ancient  Egyptian  life,  with  all  its  vicissitudes, 
may  be  read  in  pictures  out  of  these  extraordinary  tombs, 
from  the  birth,  through  all  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  life,  to 
the  death,  the  lamentations  over  the  corpse,  the  embalmer's 
operations,  and  finally  the  judgment  and  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  In  one  instance  the  Judge  is  measuring  all  men's 
good  actions  in  a  balance  against  a  feather  from  an  angel's 
wing ;  in  another,  a  great  serpent  is  being  bound  head  and 
foot,  and  cast  into  a  pit ;  and  there  are  many  other  proofs, 
equally  convincing,  of  the  knowledge  that  this  mysterious 
people  possessed  of  a  future  life  and  judgment.' 

But  not  the  kings  alone ;  the  illustrious,  the  wealthy,  the 
whole  nation  reposed  in  rock-tombs  magnificently  sculptured 
or  rudely  excavated,  according  to  the  means  of  the  defunct. 
Behind  the  ruins  of  the  stately  temples  of  ancient  Thebes, 
which  extend  from  Gourna  to  Medinet  Abou,  and  fill  the 
narrow  strip  of  desert  between  the  inundated  fields  and  the 
foot  of  the  mountains,  lies  an  interminable  necropolis,  whose 


ROCK-HEWN    CEMETERIES.  205 

graves,  like  the  cells  of  a  bee-hive,  one  close  to  the  other, 
are  hewn  in  the  rocky  ground  of  the  plain,  or  in  the  slopes 
of  the  neighbouring  hills. 

These  grottoes,  originally  destined  for  sarcophagi  and 
mummies,  are  now  occupied  by  fellahs  and  their  herds,  as  they 
were  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  century  by  pious  anchorites  ;  and, 
being  roomy  and  situated  at  a  considerable  height  above  the 
plain,  may  be  considered  as  the  most  healthy  dwellings  of 
the  country. 

The  oldest  graves  are  hewn  in  the  mountains  ;  and  at  a 
later  period,  when  the  rocky  plain  at  their  foot  alone  gave 
room  for  these  excavations,  it  gradually  became  invaded  by 
the  dead.  In  the  more  splendid  of  these  mausoleums,  high 
gates  and  walls  inclosed  deep  courtyards,  scooped  out  of  the 
rock,  and  from  these  long  corridors  led  to  subterranean 
halls,  profusely  decorated  with  sculptures  and  paintings. 

Similar  cities  of  the  dead  were  found  in  Upper  Egypt, 
near  the  cities  of  the  living,  wherever  the  adjoining  rocks 
allowed  them  to  be  excavated.  Those  of  Syout — the  ancient 
Lycopolis,  where  along  an  extent  of  several  miles  the  whole 
declivity  of  the  Libyan  mountains  is  perforated  with  graves 
rising  in  terraces  to  their  very  summit — of  El  Kab  (Eilei- 
thyia),  of  Assuan  (Syene),  of  Madfuneh  (Abydos),  of  Kan 
(Antseopolis),  and  of  a  hundred  other  places,  would  in  any 
other  country  excite  the  wonder  of  the  traveller  :  here,  where 
along  the  Nile  one  gigantic  necropolis  follows  upon  another, 
they  hardly  attract  any  attention. 

But  the  ancient  Egyptians  not  only  embalmed  human 
bodies  and  preserved  them  in  rock-tombs,  they  also  converted 
into  mummies  the  various  animals  to  which  they  paid  divine 
homage,  and  deposited  them  in  subterranean  cavities.  This 
honour  was  paid  to  Apis,  the  ox- god,  to  the  sacred  Ibis,  to 
dogs,  cats,  and  even  to  the  repulsive  crocodile. 

Besides  the  Eome  of  the  Caesars  and  the  Rome  of  the 
Popes,  there  is  a  third  Rome,  scarcely  less  remarkable  than 
the  other  two.  The  two  former,  gilded  by  the  warm  sun- 
beam, proudly  rise  above  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  with  their 
ruins,  palaces,  and  churches,  while  the  latter  lies  hidden 
beneath  the  earth. 


206 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


From  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's,  the  most  favourable 
station  for  a  panoramic  view  of  all  the  monuments  and 
buildings  of  the  Eternal  City,  the  eye  is  also  best  able  to 
embrace  at  one  glance  the  general  topography  of  the  cata- 
combs or  of  subterranean  Eome.  Fifteen  great  consular 
roads,  over  which  the  victorious  legions  once  marched  out  to 
subjugate  the  world,  radiate  from  the  centre  of  the  town,  and 
furrow  the  arid  Campagna,  until  they  are  finally  lost  in  the 


hazy  distance.  To  the  right  and  left  of  these  causeways 
the  catacombs  have  been  hollowed  out  in  the  depths  of  the 
earth,  and,  though  separated  by  the  Tiber  into  two  distinct 
regions,  yet  their  various  subdivisions  trace  a  vast  circle,  the 
size  of  which  may  be  measured  by  the  circumference  of  the 
town  itself.  To  form  some  idea  of  their  extent,  we 
must  fancy  an  intricate  wilderness  of  galleries  and  arched 
alcoves  with  their  layers  of  sarcophagi,  one  above  another ; 
their  lucernaria,  for  light  or  ventilation  ;  their  stairs,  straight 
or  winding  ;  and  all  this,  not  on  one  level  only,  but  floor 
beneath  floor — one,  two,  three,  four,  five — hewn  out  on  a  laby- 


SUBTERRANEAN    ROME.  207 

rinthine,  yet  harmonious  and  economic  plan.  Network  is 
perhaps  a  feeble  description  of  these  vast  and  intricate 
mazes ;  a  spider's  web  seen  through  the  glass  of  a  natural- 
ist, or  rather  four  or  five  spiders'  webs,  one  within  the  other, 
would  seem  a  more  fitting  illustration. 

Such  is  the  immensity  of  this  city  of  the  dead  that, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  made  them- 
selves best  acquainted  with  all  its  subdivisions,  their  galleries, 
supposing  them  ranged  in  a  line,  would  form  a  street  900 
miles  long,  and  lined  by  no  less  than  six  millions  of  tombs  ! 

So  vast  a  necropolis  would  command  attention  in  any 
country,  or  as  the  memorial  of  any  age,  or  of  any  part  of  the 
human  race ;  but  to  us  the  catacombs  of  Rome  are  doubly 
interesting,  as  the  mysterious  crypts  which  served  the  first 
confessors  of  our  faith  for  the  purposes  of  sepulture  and  some- 
times of  concealment.  Their  extent  at  once  precludes  the  idea 
of  their  having  been  excavated  in  a  clandestine  manner,  as 
was  at  one  time  erroneously  believed  ;  and,  moreover,  history 
tells  us  that,  apart  from  some  passing  storms  of  persecution, 
the  Christians  had  as  little  reason  as  the  Jews,  their  re- 
ligious ancestors,  for  making  a  secret  of  their  faith,  or  of 
their  places  of  interment.  From  the  times  of  the  Apostles 
their  community  constantly  grew  and  multiplied  throughout 
the  Roman  world — in  Rome  especially,  the  centre  of  that 
world — and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  from  Nerva  to  the 
middle  of  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  (from  96  to  about 
166)  and  so  onward  to  the  great  persecution  under  Decius  (  a.d. 
249-256),  the  Christians,  if  exposed  here  and  there  and  at 
times  to  local  persecutions,  were  growing  in  unchecked  and 
still  expanding  numbers.  But  as  the  living  community 
increased,  so  also  must  the  number  of  its  dead,  a  reverence 
for  whom  was,  among  the  survivors,  not  only  a  solemn  duty 
but  a  deep-rooted  passion.  The  Christians  not  only  in- 
herited from  the  Jews  the  ancient  usage  of  interment,  but 
this  respect  for  the  dead  was  strengthened  by  the  belief  that 
Christ  had  risen  bodily  from  the  grave,  and  that  a  bodily 
resurrection  was  to  be  their  own  glorious  privilege.  Hence 
the  burning  of  the  dead,  customary  among  the  wealthier 
pagans,  was  to  them  a  profanation  ;  and  as  the  body  of  the 
slave  was  as  holy  as  that  of  his  master,  it  claimed  the  same 
right  of  decent  burial. 


208  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

But  where  was  room  for  the  spacious  burial-places  re- 
quired for  so  vast  a  community  ? 

Within  the  walls  of  the  city  interment  was  very  properly 
forbidden  by  the  law,  and  at  a  convenient  distance  beyond 
its  crowded  precincts,  large  plots  of  ground  could  hardly  be 
obtained ;  but  the  formation  of  subterranean  cemeteries  on 
a  vast  scale  was  greatly  facilitated  by  the  geological  forma- 
tion of  the  land.  Three  different  kinds  of  stone  compose 
the  groundwork  of  the  Roman  campagna :  the  tufa  litoide,  as 
hard  and  durable  as  granite,  which  furnished  the  ma- 
terials for  the  palaces  and  temples  of  the  Csesarian  city ;  the 
tufa  granolare,  which,  though  consistent  enough  to  retain 
the  form  given  it  by  the  excavators,  cannot  be  hewn  or 
extracted  in  blocks,  and  the  loose  tufafriabile,  or  pozzuolana, 
which  has  been  extensively  used  from  the  earliest  ages  for 
mortar  or  Roman  cement.  It  is  evident  that  neither  the 
hard  lithoid  nor  the  loose  tuff  were  suitable  for  the  excava- 
tion of  the  catacombs,  while  this  purpose  could  be  admirably 
attained  in  the  courses  of  the  granular  tuff,  which,  though 
not  too  hard  to  be  worked,  is  yet  solid  enough  to  make  walls 
for  long  and  intricate  passages,  to  be  hewn  into  arches 
vaulting  over  deep  recesses  for  the  reception  of  coffins,  and 
to  support  floor  below  floor  down  to  the  utmost  depth  to 
which  the  formation  reaches. 

Neither  in  the  stone  quarries  nor  in  the  sand-pits  of 
ancient  Rome  is  there  the  slightest  sign  that  they  were  ever 
used  for  the  purposes  of  sepulture,  while  in  the  granular  tuff 
not  a  yard  seems  to  have  been  excavated  except  for  the 
making  of  tombs,  which  line  the  walls  throughout  their 
prodigious  length,  as  close  to  one  another  as  the  berths  in 
the  sides  of  a  ship.  Though  the  most  ancient  catacombs 
were  excavated  by  the  Jews,  yet  these  excavations  are  of  a 
very  limited  extent  when  compared  with  those  of  Christian 
origin,  where,  instead  of  the  seven-branched  candlestick  and 
other  sacred  emblems  of  the  Jewish  persuasion,  every 
ornament  or  inscription  marked  or  painted  upon  the  walls 
bears  witness  to  the  faith  of  those  who  were  deposited — to 
use  the  peculiar  and  appropriate  expression — within  these 
narrow  cells.  Everywhere  we  see  Christian  symbols  only— 
the  horse,  emblematic  of  strength  in  the  faith  ;  the  hunted 


DISCOVERY    OF    THE    ROMAN    CATACOMBS.  209 

hare,  of  persecution ;  the  dove  and  the  cock,  of  the  Christian 
virtues  of  vigilance  and  meekness ;  the  peacock  and  the 
phoenix,  of  resurrection ;  the  anchor,  of  hope  in  im- 
mortality;  the  palm-leaf,  of  the  martyr's  triumph  over 
death,  and  many  others. 

The  sepulchral  inscriptions  are  short  and  simple,  but  often 
extremely  tender  and  touching',  recalling  to  memory,  in  a  few 
brief  words,  the  innocence  and  purity  of  life,  the  beauty  and 
the  wisdom,  or  the  amiable,  peace-loving  character,  of  the 
deceased.  The  pompous  or  desponding  tone  of  the  heathen 
mortuary  inscriptions  disappears ;  the  Christian  '  sleeps  and 
sleeps  in  peace.'  There  is  no  sign  of  affectation  or  hypocrisy 
in  these  simple  epitaphs,  and  the  ennobling  influence  of  the 
new  creed  upon  the  spirit  of  man  is,  perhaps,  nowhere  more 
conspicuous  than  in  the  unostentatious  inscriptions  traced 
upon  the  tombs  of  its  first  confessors. 

The  use  of  the  catacombs  for  the  various  purposes  of 
interment,  assembly,  or  concealment  began,  no  doubt,  with 
the  first  persecution  under  Nero.  Most  of  the  inscriptions 
however,  bear  the  date  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century,  and 
some  are  evidently  of  a  much  later  period.  When  this 
custom  may  have  ceased  is  uncertain,  but  in  the  Middle 
Ages  the  catacombs  were  entirely  forgotten,  and  remained 
blocked  up,  until  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  they  were  reopened  and  explored  by  the  indefatigable 
and  courageous  Antony  Bosio,  who  devoted  thirty-three 
years  of  his  life  to  this  labour.  During  his  frequent  wander- 
ings through  the  Roman  Campagna,  this  zealous  archaeo- 
logist once  found,  to  the  left  of  the  Appian  Way,  near  to  the 
church  of  Sancta  Maria  in  Palmis,  a  brick  vault  in  a  field 
covered  with  rubbish.  He  immediately  presumed  it  to  be 
the  entrance  of  a  catacomb,  and  descended  through  the 
narrow  opening.  Fired  with  scientific  ardour,  he  penetrated 
further  and  further  into  recesses  untrodden  for  centuries  by 
the  foot  of  man.  The  passage  soon  became  so  narrow  and 
low  as  to  oblige  him  to  creep,  but  neither  the  difficulty  of 
the  exploration,  nor  the  fear  of  being  crushed  to  death  by 
the  crumbling  stones,  could  restrain  him  ;  and  thus,  day 
after  day,  he   continued  his  perilous   search,  until,  finally,  a 

p 


2 JO  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

complete  subterranean  city  revealed  itself,  although  he  could 
not  ascertain  its  limits,  for,  however  far  he  might  probe  its 
intricacies,  new  passages  were  still  branching  out  on  every 
side,  and  the  maze  descended  in  several  successive  stories 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  earth.  After  Bosio,  other 
archaeologists  have  continued  his  researches,  and  in  our  days 
the  Cavaliere  de  Eossi — to  whose  indefatigable  zeal  is  due, 
amongst  others,  the  discovery  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callistus, 
where  many  of  the  early  popes  have  been  entombed — has 
all  but  completed  the  topography  of  subterranean  Rome. 

Besides  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  world,  several  other 
old  Italian  towns  possess  remarkable  catacombs  or  subter- 
ranean burial-places.  Those  of  Naples,  historically  far  less 
interesting  than  those  of  Rome,  are  executed  on  a  far  more 
spacious  plan.  They  are  situated  not  beneath  the  town 
itself,  but  in  a  neighbouring  mountain,  where  they  have  been 
excavated  to  a  distance  of  more  than  two  miles.  Large 
galleries,  eighteen  feet  broad,  and  fourteen  or  fifteen  high, 
branch  out  into  a  number  of  smaller  passages,  while  the  walls 
on  both  sides  are  pierced,  like  those  in  Rome,  with  horizontal 
sepulchral  cavities,  six,  or  even  seven,  one  above  the  other. 

The  Catacombs  of  Syracuse,  under  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Achradina,  are  the  largest  and  best  preserved  known. 
They  are  all  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  and  form  lofty 
vaults,  very  different  from  the  narrow  and  dangerous  burrows 
of  subterranean  Rome.  A  broad  gallery  runs  through  the 
whole  of  the  labyrinth,  and  from  this  many  other  passages 
of  an  inferior  width  branch  out,  leading  to  large  circular 
vaults  with  openings  at  the  top  for  the  admission  of  light. 
Many  of  these  have  been  closed,  as  they  were  equally 
dangerous  for  the  people  in  their  neighbourhood  and  their 
cattle,  so  that  torches  are  necessary  for  visiting  them. 
Along  the  walls  are  a  number  of  niches,  which  served  as 
sepulchres,  so  that  these  excavations,  which  originally  were 
quarries,  and  during  the  flourishing  times  of  the  city  were 
used  by  its  vast  population  for  various  household  purposes, 
were  ultimately  converted  into  a  city  of  the  dead. 

The  Catacombs  of  Paris,  though  ancient  as  quarries,  are 
of  a  very  modern  date  as  places   of  sepulture.     Until  the 


THE    CATACOMBS    OF    PARIS.  211 

end  of  the  reign  of  Lonis  XVI.  the  principal  burying-ground 
of  Paris  had  been  the  Cemetery  of  the  Innocents,  near  the 
church  of  the  same  name.  Originally  situated  beyond  the 
walls  of  the  town,  it  had  in  course  of  time  been  so  sur- 
rounded by  the  growing  metropolis  as  to  occupy  its  centre. 
Here,  during  nearly  ten  centuries,  numberless  bodies  had 
been  deposited,  so  that,  from  the  malaria  it  engendered,  it 
became  a  constant  source  of  danger  to  the  living.  At 
length  the  cemetery  became  so  intolerable  a  nuisance  that 
its  suppression  and  conversion  into  a  public  market-place 
was  decreed  in  1785. 

The  question  now  arose  where  the  bones  to  be  displaced 
should  be  deposited,  and,  from  their  proximity  to  the  town 
and  their  extent,  the  ancient  quarries  were  chosen  as  the 
most  favourable  spot  for  a  vast  subterranean  necropolis. 
But  these  immense  excavations,  which,  having  been  aban- 
doned for  several  centuries,  had  in  many  places  fallen  in, 
needed  a  full  year  for  repairs  before  they  could  be  safely 
used  for  their  new  purpose.  At  length,  on  April  7, 1 787,  they 
were  solemnly  consecrated,  and  the  same  day  the  workmen 
began  to  remove  the  bones  from  the  Cemetery  of  the  Inno- 
cents— an  operation  which  needed  more  than  fifteen  months 
for  its  completion.  Gradually  many  others  of  the  ancient 
cemeteries  of  Paris  were  in  like  manner  removed  to  the 
catacombs,  so  that  they  are  said  to  contain  the  bones  of 
more  than  three  millions  of  bodies.  All  these  bones  are 
symmetrically  piled  up  along  the  sides  of  the  galleries  ;  the 
apophyses  of  the  large  thigh  and  arm  bones  are  disposed  in 
front,  so  as  to  make  a  nearly  uniform  surface,  interrupted 
from  space  to  space  by  a  row  of  skulls.  Some  of  the  crypts 
or  sepulchral  chambers  are  rather  lugubriously  decorated 
with  festoons  or  pyramids  of  skulls  and  cross-bones,  and 
many  of  the  stone  pillars  which  support  the  vaults  have 
likewise  received  ornaments  of  the  same  sexton  taste.  Sixty- 
three  staircases  lead  from  different  parts  of  the  town  into 
the  catacombs,  and  are  used  by  the  workmen  and  agents 
appointed  to  take  care  of  the  subterranean  necropolis  ;  but 
visitors  are  admitted  only  every  three  months  by  the  entrance 
at  the  Barriere  du  Maine.     A  descent  of  ninety  steps  brings 


212  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

them  to  a  narrow  gallery,  which  conducts  them,  after  several 
windings  to  the  more  roomy  vaults  where  the  bones  are 
deposited;  and  after  wandering  for  some  time  among  these 
gloomy  memorials  which  are  piled  up  on  either  side,  they 
finally  emerge  into  daylight  through  another  gallery,  similar 
to  the  first.  No  doubt  Paris  affords  many  a  more  pleasant 
ramble,  but  hardly  one  more  interesting,  or  capable  of  making 
a  deeper  impression  on  the  mind. 


213 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

CAVES    CONTAINING    REMAINS    OF    EXTINCT    ANIMALS. 

The  Cave  Hyena  and  the  Cave  Bear — The  Cavern  of  Kirkdale — The  Moa  Caves 
in  New  Zealand — Various  Species  of  Moas — Their  enormous  size. 

BESIDES  their  picturesque  beauty  or  their  solemn 
grandeur,  some  caves  are  extremely  interesting  as 
containing  the  bones  of  extinct  quadrupeds  or  birds.  Un- 
rivalled in  point  of  antiquity  by  the  oldest  tombs  erected  by 
man,  they  carry  us  back  to  times  which,  though  of  com- 
paratively recent  date,  are  still  so  far  removed  from  the 
present  day  as  almost  to  terrify  the  imagination— for  how 
many  ages  must  have  elapsed,  and  what  changes  of  climate 
must  have  taken  place,  since  the  hyena  or  the  tiger  inhabited 
the  grottoes  of  northern  Europe  ? 

In  many  cases  the  bones  found  in  ossiferous  caves  must 
have  been  washed  into  them  by  currents  of  water,  or  else 
they  may  be  the  remains  of  animals  that  accidentally  dropped 
in  through  holes  in  the  roof ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
frequently  the  caves  in  which  the  bones  of  extinct  carni- 
verous  animals  have  been  found,  served  as  their  dens  while 
they  were  living.  The  abundance  of  bony  dung  associated 
with  the  remains  of  the  hyena,  as  well  as  the  great  number 
of  bones  all  belonging  to  one  species  which  are  frequently 
found  congregated  in  the  same  cave,  is  strongly  confirmatory 
of  this  opinion,  no  less  than  the  circumstance  that  the  walls 
of  several  ossiferous  caves,  when  deprived  of  their  stalactital 
covering,  have  been  found  smoothed  or  rounded  off  from  the 
frequent  ingress  and  egress  of  their  former  inhabitants  as  they 
squeezed  themselves  or  dragged  their  prey  through  a  narrow 
passage.  Besides,  the  hyenas  and  bears  of  the  present  day 
frequently  live  in  caves,  thus  justifying  the  inference  that 
their  extinct  predecessors  had  the  same  habit. 


214  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

The  antiquity  of  many  of  the  animal  remains  found  in 
caves  is  proved  not  only  by  their  being  dissimilar  to  existing 
species,  but  by  the  manner  in  which  they  are  entombed. 
For  ages  they  accumulated  on  the  floor  of  the  cave,  often  to 
a  considerable  depth,  mixed  with  mud  or  sand  or  fragments 
of  rock — then,  when,  from  a  change  of  level  or  some  other 
cause,  the  cavern  became  uninhabited,  a  thick  crust  of 
stalagmite  was  slowly  formed,  and  burying  them  all,  as  under 
solid  stone,  preserved  them  undisturbed,  until  some  accident 
revealed  their  existence  after  a  time  the  length  of  which 
escapes  all  calculation.  The  dim  vista  into  the  past  appears 
still  more  shadowy  in  the  case  of  the  cavern  discovered  by 
Dr.  Schmerling  at  Choquier,  about  two  leagues  from  Liege, 
where  three  distinct  beds  of  stalagmite  were  found,  and 
between  each  of  them  a  mass  of  breccia  and  mud,  mixed 
with  quartz,  pebbles,  and  in  the  three  deposits  the  bones  of 
extinct  quadrupeds  ! 

Ossiferous  caves  have  been  found  and  examined  in  many 
parts  of  the  world  :  in  France,  in  Belgium,  chiefly  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Meuse  and  its  tributaries;  in  Austria  and 
Hungary,  in  Germany  and  England. 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  the  remains  of  a  large  and 
extinct  species  of  bear,  although  found  in  our  caves,  are  much 
more  common  on  the  Continent,  the  bones  of  the  hyena  form  by 
far  the  largest  proportion  of  those  obtained  from  the  English 
caverns.  Thus  under  the  incrustated  floors  of  our  rock-crevices 
and  hollows,  we  And  the  proofs  that  our  island  was  once 
inhabited  by  brutes  which  are  now  confined  to  Africa  and  the 
adjacent  parts  of  Asia.  But  the  extinct  hyena  of  England 
was  a  much  larger  and  more  formidable  animal  than  either 
the  striped  hyena  of  Abyssinia  or  the  spotted  hyena  of  the 
Cape,  the  latter  of  whom  it  most  resembled.  The  abundance 
of  these  animals,  and  the  length  of  the  period  during  which 
they  inhabited  England,  may  be  inferred  from  Dr.  Buck- 
land's  account  of  the  opening  of  the  celebrated  cavern  of 
Kirkdale. 

'  The  bottom  of  the  cave,  on  first  removing  the  mud,  was 
found  to  be  strewed  all  over,  like  a  dog-kennel,  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  with  hundreds  of  teeth  and  bones,  and  on  some 
of  the  bones  marks  could  be  traced,  which,  on  applying  one 


THE    CAVES    OF    KIRKDALE.  215 

to  the  other,  appeared  exactly  to  fit  the  form  of  the  canine 
teeth  of  the  hyena  that  occurred  in  the  cave.  Mr.  Gibson 
alone  collected  more  than  three  hundred  canine  teeth  of  the 
hyena,  which  must  have  belonged  to  at  least  seventy-five 
individuals,  and  adding  to  these  the  similar  teeth  I  have 
seen  in  other  collections,  I  cannot  calculate  the  total  number 
of  hyenas,  of  which  there  is  evidence,  at  less  than  two  or 
three  hundred.' 

The  grisly  bear  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  (Ursus  ferox)  is 
the  most  ferocious  of  its  race  at  the  present  day.  It  is  about 
nine  feet  long,  and  is  said  to  attain  the  weight  of  800  pounds. 
Its  strength  is  so  prodigious  that  even  the  bison  contends 
with  it  in  vain.  But  this  huge  and  formidable  animal  was 
surpassed  in  size  and  strength  by  the  extinct  bear  (Ursus 
spelaeus)  which  once  inhabited  the  caverns  of  Europe,  at  a 
time  when  vast  and  interminable  forests  covered  the  land, 
and  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  flowed  through  wastes  like 
those  through  which  the  Mackenzie  or  the  Yenissei  now  find 
their  way  to  the  ocean. 

From  the  proportions  of  the  molar  teeth,  and  from  some 
peculiarities  of  appearance  and  wearing,  it  has  been  inferred 
that  this  extinct  species  lived  chiefly  on  vegetable  food ;  but 
its  prodigious  strength,  and  the  huge  canines  with  which  its 
jaws  were  armed,  enabled  it  to  cope  with  its  contemporaries, 
the  large  Auerox  and  the  teichorhine  rhinoceros,  and  to  defend 
itself  successfully  against  the  large  lion  or  tiger  whose  re- 
mains have  also  been  found  in  the  caverns  of  western 
Europe,  and  which,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  size  of  their 
canine  teeth,  must  have  been  more  than  a  match  for  the 
largest  felides  of  the  present  day. 

Besides  the  hyena  and  the  bear,  more  than  a  hundred 
species  of  extinct  animals  have  been  discovered  in  our 
ossiferous  caves.  In  those  of  Paviland,  Glamorganshire, 
bones  of  a  primeval  elephant  have  been  found ;  and  in  that 
of  Wirksworth,  Derbyshire,  the  almost  entire  skeleton  of 
a  rhinoceros  lay  buried  in  a  considerable  mass  of  gravel 
and  osseous  fragments.  How  the  large  creature  came  there 
is  a  question  that  may  well  exercise  the  ingenuity  of  a 
geologist. 

Though  in  these  and  similar  cases,  the  bone-caves   have 


216 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


been  found  to  contain  the  remains  of  animals  very  different 
from  those  now  existing  in  the  same  region,  yet  in  general 
they  show  a  remarkable  relationship,  in  the  same  land  or 
continent,  between  the  dead  and  the  living.  Thus  in  the 
caves  of  Brazil  there  are  extinct  species  of  all  the  thirty-two 
genera,  excepting  four,  of  the  terrestrial  quadrupeds  now 
inhabiting  the  provinces  in  which  the  caves  occur,  such  as 
fossil  ant-eaters,  armadilloes,  tapirs,  peccaries,  guanacoes, 
opossums,  and  numerous  South  American  gnawers,  monkeys 
and  other  animals. 


CAVE  IX  DREAM  LKAD  MINE,   NEAR  WIRKSWORTH,   DERBYSHIRE. 


The  kangaroo,  as  is  well-known,  is  peculiar  to  Australia,, 
and  caverns  in  that  country  have  been  described  by  Sir  T. 
Mitchell,  containing  fossil  bones  of  a  large  extinct  kangaroo. 

A  singular  wingless  bird,  the  Apteryx  australis,  is  found 
only  in  the  wilds  of  the  interior  of  New  Zealand,  where  it 
takes  refuge  in  the  clefts  of  rocks,  hollow  trees,  or  in  deep 
holes  which  it  excavates  in  the  ground.  The  caves  of  that 
country  show  us  that  it  was  preceded  by  other  wingless  birds 
of  a  gigantic  structure — the  Moas,  by  the  side  of  which  even 
the  ostriches  of  the  present  day  would  shrink  into  compara- 
tive insignificance. 


CAVE- BIRDS.  217 

These  wonderful  creatures  would  probably  have  remained 
unknown  to  the  present  day,  if,  in  1839,  the  thigh-bone  of  a 
Moa  had  not  fallen  by  chance  into  the  hands  of  Professor 
Owen,  who  from  this  single  fragment  drew  up  a  surprisingly 
correct  notice  of  the  bird.  This  memoir,  sent  out  to  New 
Zealand,  gave  a  stimulus  to  further  researches,  and  from 
the  larger  quantity  of  the  Moa's  bones  now  sent  to  England, 
Professor  Owen  built  up  the  beautiful  skeleton  which,  along 
with  those  of  the  Mylodon  robustus,  of  the  Mammoth,  and  of 
the  primeval  stag,  forms  one  of  the  most  conspicous  orna- 
ments of  the  splendid  Museum  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

But  the  reconstructive  genius  of  our  great  pala3ontologist, 
not  satisfied  with  this  triumph,  has  detected  a  whole  group 
of  ostrich-like  birds  among  the  remnants  of  the  past,  which 
the  New  Zealanders,  who,  as  we  may  suppose,  are  no  adepts 
in  comparative  anatomy,  all  confound  under  the  common 
name  of  the  Moa;  and  thus  five  species  of  Dinornis,  the 
Palaeopteryx,  the  Aptornis,  and  the  comparatively  small 
Notornis,  have  been,  as  it  were,  resuscitated  by  a  miracle  of 
science.  A  specimen  of  the  last-named  species  of  these 
birds  was  caught  alive  in  a  remote,  unfrequented  part  of  the 
south  island  of  New  Zealand  in  1850  by  some  sealers,  who, 
ignorant  of  the  value  of  their  prize,  killed  and  devoured  it 
as  if  it  had  been  a  common  turkey.  Fortunately,  however, 
the  skin  of  this  unique  bird,  the  link  between  the  living  and 
the  dead,  the  last  perhaps  of  a  race  coeval  with  the  gigantic 
Moas,  was  preserved  from  destruction. 

The  largest  species  of  Moa  (Dinornis  robustus)  must 
have  stood,  when  alive,  about  thirteen  or  fourteen  feet  high, 
since  Dr.  Thomson  saw  a  complete  leg,  which  stood  six 
feet  from  the  ground.  Like  the  ostrich,  this  feathered  giant 
was  incapable  of  flight,  its  rudimentary  wings  being  unable 
to  raise  it  from  the  ground.  It  had  three  toes  on  each  foot, 
and  tradition  says  that  its  feathers  were  beautiful  and  gaudy. 
Portions  of  the  eggs  of  the  bird  have  been  found  among  their 
bones,  of  a  sufficient  size  to  estimate  the  probable  size  of  a 
whole  egg,  and  the  conclusion  is  that  the  hat  of  a  full-grown 
man  would  have  been  a  proper-sized  egg-cup  for  it.  From 
the  structure  of  the  toes,  which  were  well  adapted  for  digging 
up  roots,  and  from  the  traditional  report  that  the  Moas  were 


218  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD 

in  the  habit  of  swallowing-  stones  to  promote  digestion,  it 
may  be  concluded  that  they  were  herbivorous. 

This  is  about  as  much  as  we  know  of  the  aspect  and 
habits  of  this  colossal  Struthionide,  whose  apparent  con- 
finement to  the  small  New  Zealandic  group  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  enigmas  of  its  history.  As  it  is  extremely  im- 
probable that  so  gigantic  a  race  was  originally  formed  for  so 
narrow  a  sphere,  we  are  led  to  believe  that  New  Zealand  is 
but  the  remnant  of  a  vast  continent  now  whelmed  under  the 
waves  of  the  Pacific. 

When  the  group  was  first  peopled  by  the  Maories,  about 
five  hundred  years  ago,  the  Moas  had  already  become  exces- 
sively rare,  and  the  last  of  them  seem  to  have  perished 
during  the  seventeenth  century,  though  the  New  Zealanders 
believe  that  some  of  them  still  live  in  the  remote  and  un- 
frequented wilds  of  their  native  land. 

The  bones  of  the  various  species  of  Moa  have  been 
partly  found  in  morasses,  partly  in  the  beds  of  mountain 
torrents,  but  chiefly  in  various  caves,  which,  no  doubt,  served 
the  living  animals  as  dwellings  or  places  of  refuge. 

One  of  these  caverns,  called  by  the  New  Zealanders  4  Te 
Anaoteatua,'  or  the  Cave  of  the  Spirit,  was  visited  by  Dr. 
Thomson,*  who  describes  it  as  very  remarkable.  It  is 
situated  in  the  tertiary,  extremely  cavernous,  and  undermined 
limestone  mountain  chain  which  extends  along*  the  west 
coast  of  the  northern  island,  and  whose  picturesque  beauties 
and  natural  curiosities  are  destined  to  occupy  a  conspicuous 
place  in  some  future  guide-book.  Its  entrance,  resembling 
the  gateway  of  an  old  castle,  is  concealed  by  a  thick  foliage  of 
shrubs,  and  a  dark  green  creeper  adheres  to  the  limestone 
rock  and  covers  the  opening.  The  cave  extends  in  a  tortuous 
direction  underneath  the  hill  for  upwards  of  a  mile,  and  con- 
sists of  several  different  passages.  From  its  roof  and  sides 
numerous  stalactites  are  hanging,  some  of  them  six  feet 
long,  and  composed  of  transparent  calcareous  spar,  while 
others  have  a  red  tint.  In  that  part  of  the  cave  which  Dr. 
Thomson  explored,  there  were  three  openings  in  the  roof 
at  different  places,  each  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  circum- 

*    '  On   the   Moa   Caves   of  New   Zealand.'      Edinburgh   New    Philosophical 
Journal,  vol.  lvi.     1854. 


MOA   CAVES   OF    NEW   ZEALAND.  219 

ference,  through  which  light  was  seen  streaming  in,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  head.  Immediately  below 
these  openings  there  were  heaps  of  wood  and  debris  washed 
down  from  the  surface ;  but  these  openings  did  not  throw 
much  light  into  the  cave,  so  that  even  during  the  day  it 
was  perfectly  dark.  A  subterranean  stream  of  water  runs 
through  part  of  it,  and  then  disappears  under  the  rock. 

Before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  this  cave  was 
held  in  the  greatest  terror  by  all  New  Zealanders,  and  no 
one  would  have  ventured  to  enter  it ;  but  as  Moa  bones  fetch 
a  high  price,  the  love  of  money  at  length  conquered  the  super- 
stitious fears  of  some  Christian  natives,  and  their  boldness 
was  rewarded  by  a  tolerably  rich  harvest  of  bones,  although 
their  search  was  made  in'  a  very  hasty  and  imperfect 
manner. 

Another  cave  situated  in  the  same  neighbourhood,  and 
bearing  the  indigenous  name  of  *  Te  Anaotemoa '  or  the  Cave 
of  the  Moa,  did  not  enjoy  the  privilege  of  spiritual  protection, 
and  the  Maories  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  it  to  pro- 
cure the  skulls  of  the  Moas,  to  keep  the  powder  which  they 
used  for  tattooing,  and  their  long  bones  for  the  manufacture 
of  fish-hooks,  before  they  became  acquainted  with  the  use  of 
iron. 

The  Cave  of  the  Moa  is  in  as  limestone  hill,  with  two  open- 
ings, one  towards  the  north-east  and  the  other  towards  the 
south-west.  The  north-east  opening  has  evidently  been 
caused  by  the  falling  in  of  the  roof,  and  is  apparently  of  no 
great  age ;  the  south-west  entrance  is  14  feet  high  and  10 
feet  broad,  and  covered  over  with  trees  and  bushes.  The 
cave  is  165  feet  long,  the  greatest  breadth  28  feet,  and  the 
height  60  feet.  The  roof  is  oval,  and  numerous  stalactites 
drop  gracefully  from  it,  giving  a  cathedral-like  effect  to  the 
whole.  One  part  of  the  floor  is  covered  over  with  calcareous 
spar,  another  part  with  a  large  deposit  of  soft  stalagmites, 
and  the  part  of  the  floor  furthest  distant  from  the  south-west 
opening  is  covered  with  earth,  limestones,  and  mud,  which 
appear  to  have  fallen  down  when  the  roof  of  the  cave  gave 
way,  which  now  forms  the  north-east  opening.  It  is  under 
this  earth,  and  the  soft  deposit  of  carbonate  of  lime,  that  the 
Moas'  bones  are  found.     Dr.  Thomson  got  only  four  skulls 


•220  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

in  this  cave,  and  the  scarcity  of  them  was  accounted  for  by 
their  nse  in  former  days  as  powder-holders.  There  was 
nothing  to  lead  him  to  think  that  these  bones  had  been  de- 
posited in  the  cave  by  water,  for  he  found  a  remnant  of  almost 
every  bone  in  the  body,  from  the  spine  and  the  rings  of  the 
trachea  down  to  the  last  bone  of  the  toes.  The  bones  belonged 
to  the  largest  and  also  to  the  smaller  species  of  Moas. 

It  would  require  several  days'  labour  of  many  men  to  clear 
out  the  bottom  of  this  cave  properly,  in  order  to  see  what 
bones  it  contains;  but,  as  far  as  Dr.  Thomson  saw,  there  were 
no  osseous  remains  of  man  or  of  any  animals,  except  Moas, 
in  it,  nor  any  marks  of  fire,  sculpture,  nor  figures  of  any  kind 
on  the  walls  of  the  cave. 

There  are,  no  doubt,  many  other  grottoes  and  cavities  con- 
taining Moas'  bones  in  the  islands,  but  they  are  carefully 
kept  secret  by  the  natives,  as,  on  account  of  the  high  price 
paid  for  the  bones,  they  may  almost  be  regarded  as  small 
gold-mines. 


2:2] 


CHAPTER   XX. 

SUBTERRANEAN    RELICS    OF    PREHISTORIC    MAN. 

The  Peat  Mosses  of  Denmark — Shell  Mounds — Swiss  Lacustrine  Dwellings — 
Ancient  Mounds  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi — The  Caves  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Meuse — Dr.  Schmerling — Human  Skulls  in  the  Cave  of  Engis  —Explorations 
of  Sir  Charles  Lyell  in  the  Cave  of  Engihoul— Caverns  of  Brixham  — Caves  of 
Gower— the  Sepulchral  Grotto  of  Aurignac— Flint  Implements  discovered  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Somme — Gray's  Inn  Lane  an  ancient  Hunting  Ground  for 
Mammoths. 

AMONG  the  various  researches  of  geologists,  there  are 
perhaps  none  of  a  more  general  interest  than  those 
which  relate  to  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race.  We  would 
gladly  know  whether  those  strata  and  caves  which  contain 
so  many  relics  of  the  past  afford  us  also  some  insight  into 
the  primitive  condition  of  man — some  indication  of  the  times 
when  he  first  appeared  upon  the  stage  of  life.  Within  the 
last  years  many  discoveries  have  been  made  which  have 
thrown  light  upon  the  subject,  and  proved  that,  though  man, 
geologically  speaking,  is  of  recent  origin,  and  probably  the 
youngest  born  of  creation,  his  ancestry  still  stretches  back 
at  least  as  far  as  that  remote  period  when  the  huge  Mam- 
moth ranged  over  the  north,  when  the  cavern  bear  and  the 
cavern  hyena  tenanted  the  excavations  of  our  limestone 
hills,  and  the  uncouth  form  of  the  rhinoceros  brushed 
through  the  dense  primeval  forests  of  our  land.  In  the  fol- 
lowing pages  I  intend  briefly  to  point  out  some  of  the  most 
interesting  of  these  discoveries. 

The  peat-mosses  of  Denmark,  varying  in  depth  from  ten 
to  thirty  feet,  show  their  enormous  antiquity  by  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  vegetation  of  the  land  since 
the  first  periods  of  their  growth.  At  their  lowest  levels  lie 
thick  prostrate  trunks  of  the  Scotch  fir,  which   must  once 


222  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

have  grown  on  their  margin,  but  which  is  not  now,  nor  has 
ever  been  in  historical  times,  a  native  of  the  Danish  isles. 
At  higher  levels  the  pines  disappear,  and  are  supplanted  by 
the  sessile  variety  of  the  common  oak,  while  still  higher 
occurs  the  pedunculated  variety  of  the  same  oak,  now  in  its 
turn  almost  superseded  by  the  common  beech.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  calculate  the  number  of  ages  needed  to  bring  about 
these  vast  changes  in  the  forest  scenery  of  Denmark — a  very 
moderate  estimate  carries  them  back  seven  thousand  years — 
but  at  every  depth  in  the  peat,  and  under  all  these  various 
trees,  implements  and  other  articles  of  human  workmanship 
have  been  found,  which  show  that,  since  the  appearance  of 
man,  the  fir  and  the  oak  have  successively  flourished  and 
disappeared. 

In  addition  to  the  peat-mosses,  the  Danish  (  shell-mounds' 
throw  some  light  on  the  prehistoric  ages  of  that  northern 
land.  These  mounds,  or  '  refuse-heaps,'  consisting  chiefly  of 
thousands  of  cast-away  shells  of  the  oyster,  cockle,  and  other 
molluscs  of  existing  species,  may  be  seen  at  certain  points 
along  the  shores  of  nearly  all  the  Danish  islands.  The  shells 
are  plentifully  mixed  up  with  the  bones  of  various  quadrupeds, 
birds,  and  fishes,  which  served  as  the  food  of  the  savages  by 
whom  the  mounds  were  accumulated,  while  scattered  all 
through  them  are  rude  implements  of  stone,  horn,  wood,  and 
bone,  with  fragments  of  coarse  pottery,  mixed  with  charcoal 
and  cinders,  but  never  any  implements  of  bronze  or  of  iron. 
Similar  refuse-heaps  are  found  near  the  huts  of  many  wild 
nations  of  the  present  day,  as,  for  instance,  near  the  mise- 
rable wigwams  of  the  Fuegians,  who  live  chiefly  upon 
limpets. 

The  most  striking  proof  that  the  Danish  refuse-heaps  are 
very  old  is  derived  from  the  character  of  their  imbedded 
shells.  These,  indeed,  belong  entirely  to  living  species,  but 
the  common  eatable  oyster  is  now  unknown  in  the  brackish 
waters  of  the  Baltic,  and  the  eatable  mussels,  cockles,  and 
periwinkles,  which  in  the  refuse-heaps  are  as  large  as  those 
which  grow  in  the  open  sea,  now  only  attain  a  third  of  their 
natural  size.  Hence  we  may  confidently  infer  that  in  the  days 
when  the  savage  inhabitants  of  the  Danish  coasts  accumu- 
lated these  heaps,  the  ocean  must  have  had  freer  access  than 


SWISS    LACUSTRINE    DWELLINGS.  223 

now  to  the  Baltic,  and  mixed  its  waters  through,  broader 
channels  with  those  of  that  inland  sea. 

As  in  the  peat-bogs  the  implements  and  weapons  found 
buried  with  the  Scotch  fir  are  all  made  of  stone,  whereas 
those  coinciding  with  the  oak  epoch  are  made  of  bronze,  we 
may  farther  conclude  that  the  stone  hatchets  and  knives  of 
the  refuse-heaps  likewise  belong  to  the  same  distant  period 
when  evergreen  forests  flourished  in  the  Danish  isles. 

The  ancient  Swiss  lacustrine  dwellings,  so  frequently 
mentioned  of  late  years,  afford  us  another  highly  interesting 
glimpse  into  remote  prehistoric  ages.  They  seem  first  to 
have  attracted  attention  during  the  dry  season  of  1853-4, 
when  the  lakes  and  rivers  were  unusually  low,  and  when  the 
inhabitants  of  Meilen  on  the  Lake  of  Zurich  resolved  to  raise 
the  level  of  some  ground,  by  throwing  upon  it  the  mud  ob- 
tained by  dredging  in  the  adjoining  shallow  water.  During 
these  dredging  operations  they  discovered  a  number  of 
wooden  piles  deeply  driven  into  the  bed  of  the  lake,  and, 
among  them,  many  stone  instruments,  fragments  of  rude 
pottery,  fishing  gear,  and  the  bones  of  various  animals  ; 
those  which  contained  marrow  being  split  open,  in  the  same 
way  as  those  found  in  the  Danish  shell-mounds."* 

The  ruins  thus  unexpectedly  brought  to  light  were  evi- 
dently those  of  a  village  of  unknown  date,  and  since  then 
many  other  hill-dwellings  (more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  in 
all)  have  been  detected  near  the  borders  of  the  Swiss  lakes, 
at  points  where  the  depth  of  water  does  not  exceed  fifteen 
feet.  Such  aquatic  sites  were  probably  selected  as  places  of 
safet}r,  since  they  could  be  approached  only  by  a  narrow 
bridge  or  by  boats,  and  the  water  would  serve  for  protection 
alike  against  wild  animals  and  human  foes.  The  relative 
age  of  the  pile-dwellings  is  clearly  illustrated  by  the  nature 
of  the  relics  that  lie  scattered  among  their  ruins.  In  some, 
only  bronze  utensils  or  ornaments  are  found ;  in  others  all 
the  articles  are  of  stone.  The  former,  indicating  an  advance 
in  civilisation,  are  evidently  of  a  more  recent  age,  but,  even 
among  the  villages  of  the  stone  period,  some  are  of  later  date 
than  others,  as  they  exhibit  signs  of  an  improved  state  of  the 

*  See  also  the  article  on  Lacustrine  Abodes,  in  the  Edin.  Beview,  July  1 862. 


224  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

arts.  Thus  we  have  here  a  long  perspective  into  an  unknown 
past,  for  even  the  bronze  villages  are  probably  of  an  age  long 
antecedent  to  the  Roman  period.  The  oldest  stone  settle- 
ments are  perhaps  as  old  as  the  times  of  the  Danish  refuse- 
heaps;  but  even  among  their  ruins,  some  domesticated  animals 
occur,  namely,  the  ox,  sheep,  goat,  and  dog,  and  the  appear- 
ance of  three  cereals  indicates  that  the  population  had 
already  made  some  progress  in  the  agricultural  arts.  Amber 
ornaments,  which  could  only  have  found  their  way  from  the 
Baltic,  as  also  hatchets  and  wedges  of  jade,  of  a  kind  not 
occurring  in  Switzerland  or  in  the  adjoining  parts  of  Europe, 
and  which  some  mineralogists  would  derive  from  the  East, 
prove  the  existence  of  an  active  commercial  intercourse,  even 
at  that  early  age,  which  the  Swiss  archseologists  and  geolo- 
gists carry  back  as  far  as  7,000  years. 

In  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  and  especially  in  the  valley 
of  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  many  large  mounds  have  been 
found,  which  have  served  in  some  cases  for  temples,  in  others 
for  outlook  or  defence,  and  in  others  for  sepulture.  Some 
of  these  earthworks  are  on  so  grand  a  scale  as  to  embrace 
areas  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  acres  within  a  simple  inclosure ; 
and  the  solid  contents  of  one  mound  are  estimated  at  twenty 
millions  of  cubic  feet,  equal  to  about  one-fourth  of  the  bulk 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt.  From  several  of  these 
repositories  pottery  and  ornamental  sculpture  have  been 
taken,  as  also  weapons  made  of  unpolished  hornstone  and 
various  articles  in  silver  and  copper.  An  active  commercial 
intercourse  must  have  existed  between  the  Ohio  mound- 
builders  and  the  natives  of  distant  regions,  as  mica  from  the 
Alleghanies,  sea-shells  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  obsidian 
from  the  Mexican  mountains,  and  implements  made  of  native 
copper  from  Lake  Superior,  have  been  found  among  the 
buried  articles. 

The  extraordinary  number  of  the  mounds  implies  a  long 
period  during  which  a  settled  agricultural  population,  con- 
siderably advanced  in  the  industrial  arts,  occupied  the  fertile 
valleys  or  the  alluvial  plains  in  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi, 
covered,  since  then,  with  vast  forests,  and  tenanted  by  wild 
hunters  without  any  traditionary  connexion  with  their  more 
civilised  predecessors.    The  epoch  when  this  people  flourished, 


AGE   OF   HUMAN   RELICS   IN   CAVES.  225 

or  the  adverse  circumstances  which  swept  them  away,  are 
all  equally  unknown ;  but  the  age  and  nature  of  the  trees 
found  errowinjx  on  some  of  their  earthworks  afford  at  least 
some  data  for  estimating  the  minimum  of  time  which  must 
have  passed  since  the  mounds  were  abandoned. 

Trunks,  displaying  eight  hundred  rings  of  annual  growth, 
have  been  cut  down  from  them,  and  several  generations  of 
trees  must  have  lived  and  died  before  the  mounds  could  have 
been  overspread  with  that  variety  of  species  which  they 
supported  when  the  white  man  first  set  foot  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio.  In  a  memoir  on  this  subject, -General  Harrison, 
who  was  skilled  in  woodcraft,  observes  that  i  beyond  all  doubt 
no  trees  were  allowed  to  grow  so  long  as  the  earthworks 
were  in  use ;  and  when  they  were  forsaken,  the  ground,  like 
all  newly  cleared  ground  in  Ohio,  would  for  a  time  be  mono- 
polised by  one  or  two  species  of  tree,  such  as  the  yellow 
locust  and  the  black  or  white  walnut.  When  the  individuals 
which  were  the  first  to  get  possession  of  the  ground  had  died 
out  one  after  the  other,  they  would  in  man}'  cases,  instead  of 
being  replaced  by  the  same  species,  be  succeeded  (by  virtue 
of  the  law  which  makes  a  rotation  of  crops  profitable  in  agri- 
culture) by  other  kinds,  till  at  last,  after  a  great  number  of 
centuries  (several  thousand  years,  perhaps),  that  remarkable 
diversity  of  species  characteristic  of  North  America,  and 
far  exceeding  what  is  seen  in  European  forests,  would  be 
established. ' 

In  all  the  cases  hitherto  mentioned,  the  remains  or  relics 
of  prehistoric  man,  however  remote  a  date  we  may  assign  to 
them,  have  been  found  associated  with  fossil  shells  and  mam- 
malia of  living  species.  In  the  instances  I  am  now  about  to 
relate,  we  advance  a  step  further  back,  and  find  man  the 
contemporary  either  of  extinct  mammalia  or  such  as  could 
now  no  longer  exist  in  the  lands  where  once  they  throve. 
As  the  mere  mention  of  the  numerous  caves  in  Belgium. 
England,  France,  and  Germany,  in  which  human  bones  or 
articles  of  human  workmanship  have  been  found  embedded 
along  with  the  fossil  remains  of  extinct  animals,  would  tire 
the  reader's  patience,  I  select  from  the  number  a  few  which 
have  afforded  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  the  antiquity  of 
man.     The  credit  of  having  given  the  first  impulse  to  these 

Q 


226  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

fruitful  investigations  is  due  to  the  late  Dr.  Schmerling,  of 
Liege,  who,  with  untiring  zeal,  devoted  several  years  of  his 
life  to  the  exploring  of  the  ossiferous  caverns  which  border 
the  valley  of  the  Meuse  and  its  tributaries.  To  gain  access 
to  many  of  the  caves  was  in  itself  no  easy  task,  as  their 
openings  could  be  reached  only  by  a  rope  tied  to  a  tree  ;  and 
when  we  consider  that,  after  these  arduous  preliminaries,  Dr. 
Schmerling  had  frequently  to  creep  on  all  fours  through  con- 
tracted passages  leading  to  larger  chambers,  there  to  super- 
intend by  torchlight,  week  after  week,  and  year  after  year,  the 
workmen  who  were  breaking  through  a  stalagmitic  crust  as 
hard  as  marble,  in  order  to  remove,  piece  by  piece,  the  under- 
lying bone  breccia  nearly  as  hard,  and  that  while  thus  direct- 
ing their  labours  he  stood  for  hours  with  his  feet  in  the  mud, 
and  with  water  dripping  from  the  roof  on  his  head,  in  order 
to  mark  the  position  and  guard  against  the  loss  of  each  single 
bone  which  they  brought  to  light,  we  can  scarcely  praise  too 
highly  his  rare  devotion  to  the  cause  of  science. 

Among  these  caverns  thus  laboriously  explored,  that  of 
Eno-is  was  found  to  contain  the  remains  of  at  least  three 
human  beings  deeply  buried  under  a  thick  floor  of  stalagmite. 
The  skull  of  one  of  these,  who  may  have  been  a  beauty 
when  the  Meuse  flowed  at  least  fifty  feet  above  its  present 
channel,  was  embedded  by  the  side  of  a  mammoth's  tooth. 
Another  skull  was  buried  five  feet  deep  in  a  breccia  in  which 
the  tooth  of  a  rhinoceros,  several  bones  of  a  horse,  and  some 
of  the  reindeer,  together  with  some  ruminants,  occurred.  On 
the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river 
to  Eugis,  is  the  cavern  of  Engihoul,  wThere  likewise  bones  of 
extinct  animals,  mingled  with  those  of  man,  were  observed  to 
abound ;  but  with  this  difference,  that  whereas  in  the  Engis 
cave  there  were  several  human  crania  and  but  very  few  other 
bones,  in  Engihoul  there  occurred  numerous  bones  of  the 
extremities  belonging  to  at  least  three  human  beings,  and 
only  two  small  fragments  of  a  cranium.  None  of  the  caves 
examined  by  Schmerling  contained  an  example  of  an  entire 
skeleton,  and  the  bones  w^ere  invariably  so  rolled  and  scat- 
tered as  to  preclude  all  idea  of  their  having"  been  intentionally 
buried  on  the  spot.  As  no  gnawed  bones  nor  any  coprolites 
were  found,  he  inferred  that  the  caverns  of  the  province  of 


THE   CAVES   OF   BRIXHAM.  227 

Liege  had  not  been  the  den  of  wild  beasts,  but  that  their 
organic  and  inorganic  contents  had  been  swept  into  them  by 
streams  communicating  with  the  surface  of  the  country.  In 
1860  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  on  a  visit  to  Liege,  determined 
still  further  to  examine  the  Cave  of  Engihoul,  into  which 
Schmerling  had  delved  in  1831,  and  engaged  some  workmen 
to  break  through  the  crust  of  stalagmite  with  the  intention 
of  searching  for  bones  in  the  undisturbed  earth  beneath. 
Bones  and  teeth  of  the  cave-bear  were  soon  found,  and,  at  the 
depth  of  two  feet  below  the  crust  of  stalagmite,  three  frag- 
ments of  a  human  skull,  and  two  perfect  lower  jaws  with 
teeth,  all  associated  with  the  bones  of  bears,  large  pachyderms 
and  ruminants,  and  so  precisely  resembling  these  in  colour 
and  state  of  preservation  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  man  was 
contemporary  with  the  extinct  animals. 

Our  English  bone-caves  have  likewise  aiforded  abundant 
proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  our  race.  In  1858  a  new  series  of 
caverns  having  been  accidentally  discovered  near  the  sea  at 
Brixham,  by  the  roof  of  one  of  them  being  broken  through 
in  quarrying,  the  Royal  Society  resolved  to  have  it  scientific- 
ally and  thoroughly  examined.  The  united  length  of  the 
galleries  which  were  cleared  out  under  the  superintendence 
of  experienced  geologists  amounted  to  several  hundred  feet. 
Their  width  never  exceeded  eight  feet.  They  were  sometimes 
filled  up  to  the  roof  with  mud,  but  occasionally  there  was  a 
considerable  space  between  the  roof  and  floor.  The  nume- 
rous fossils  discovered  during  the  progress  of  the  excavations 
were  all  numbered  and  labelled  with  reference  to  a  journal  in 
which  the  geological  position  of  each  specimen  was  recorded 
with  scrupulous  care. 

As  in  many  other  bone-caverns,  the  underground  passages 
and  channels  were  generally  found  floored  with  a  layer  of 
stalagmite,  varying  in  thickness  from  one  to  fifteen  inches, 
and  next  below  occurred  loam  or  bone-earth  from  two  to 
fifteen  feet  in  thickness.  In  the  latter  were  found  remains 
of  the  mammoth,  of  the  cave-bear,  of  the  cave-lion,  and 
other  extinct  mammalia.  No  human  bones  were  obtained, 
but  many  flint  knives,  chiefly  from  the  lowest  part  of  the  bone- 
earth,  and  one  of  the  most  perfect  lay  at  the  depth  of  thirteen 


228  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

feet  from  the   surface,  and  was  covered  with  bone-earth  of 
that  thickness. 

At  one  point  in  the  overlying  stalagmite  a  perfect  reindeer's 
horn  was  found  sticking,  and  in  another  an  entire  humerus  of 
the  cave-bear — a  convincing  proof  that  both  these  animals 
must  have  lived  after  the  flint  tools  were  manufactured,  or 
in  other  words  that  man  in  this  district  preceded  the  cave- 
bear.  '  A  glance  at  the  position  of  Windmill  Hill,  in  which 
the  caverns  are  situated,  and  a  brief  survey  of  the  valleys 
which  bound  it  on  three  sides,  are  enough  to  satisfy  a  geolo- 
gist that  the  drainage  and  geographical  features  of  this 
region  have  undergone  great  changes  since  the  gravel  and 
bone-earth  were  carried  by  streams  into  the  subterranean 
cavities.  Some  worn  pebbles  of  hematite,  in  particular,  can 
only  have  come  from  their  nearest  parent  rock  at  a  period 
when  the  valleys  immediately  adjoining  the  caves  were  much 
shallower  than  they  now  are.  The  reddish  loam  in  which 
the  bones  are  embedded  is  such  as  may  be  seen  on  the  sur- 
face of  limestone  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  the  currents 
which  were  formerly  charged  with  such  mud  must  have  run 
at  a  level  seventy-eight  feet  above  that  of  the  stream  now 
flowing  in  the  same  valley.5  * 

In  1861,  Colonel  Wood  found,  in  a  newly  discovered  cave 
of  the  peninsula  of  Gower,  in  Glamorganshire,  the  remains  of 
two  species  of  rhinoceros,  R.  teichorhinus  and  R.  hemitoe- 
chus,  in  an  undisturbed  deposit,  in  the  lower  part  of  which 
were  some  well-shaped  flint  knives,  evidently  of  human 
workmanship.  This  is  the  first  well-authenticated  example 
of  the  occurrence  of  human  implements  in  connexion  with 
R.  hemitoechus — the  first  proof  that  this  extinct  brute,  else- 
where the  usual  companion  of  the  mammoth,  has  been  coeval 
with  man. 

In  1 852,  on  the  side  of  a  hill  near  the  small  town  of  Aurig- 
nac  in  the  South  of  France,  a  sepulchral  grotto  was  discovered 
which,  though  unadorned  and  rude,  is  of  the  highest  interest, 
as  in  point  of  antiquity  it  surpasses  all  other  burial-places 
known,  and  leads  us  back  to  times  long  anterior  to  the  oldest 
traditions  of  our  race.  In  that  year  a  labourer  observed  that 
rabbits,  when  hotly  pursued  by  the  sportsman,  ran  into  a  hole 

*  Lyell,  'Antiquity  of  Man,'  p.  101. 


CAVE   OF   AURIGNAC.  .  229 

which  they  had  burrowed  in  a  talus  of  rubbish  washed  down 
from  the  hill  above.  Expecting  no  doubt  to  '  drag  some 
struggling  savage  into  day,'  he  reached  as  far  into  the  open- 
ing as  the  length  of  his  arm,  and  drew  out,  to  his  surprise, 
one  of  the  long  bones  of  a  human  skeleton.  His  curiosity 
being  excited  he  then  began  to  dig  a  trench  through  the 
middle  of  the  talus,  and  in  a  few  hours  found  himself  opposite 
a  large  heavy  slab  of  rock,  placed  vertically  against  the  en- 
trance. Having  removed  this,  he  discovered  on  the  other  side 
of  it  an  arched  cavity  almost  filled  with  bones,  among  which 
were  two  entire  skulls,  which  he  recognised  at  once  as  human. 

The  good  people  of  Aurignac,  highly  interested  in  the 
discovery,  flocked  to  the  cave,  and  as  they  probably  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  see  the  bones  of  what  they  supposed  to  be 
their  forefathers  enjoy  a  Christian  burial,  the  mayor  ordered 
these  human  relics  to  be  removed  from  the  lonely  spot  in 
which  they  had  so  long  reposed  in  peace,  and  to  be  re-interred 
in  the  parish  cemetery.  But  before  this  was  done — having,  as 
a  medical  man,  a  knowledge  of  anatomy,  though,  as  it  seems, 
a  very  imperfect  idea  of  the  ethnological  value  of  the  dis- 
covery— he  ascertained  that  the  bones  must  have  formed  parts 
of  no  less  than  seventeen  skeletons  of  both  sexes.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  skulls  were  injured  in  the  transfer,  and  the  inter- 
ment was  so  negligently  conducted  that  when,  after  the  lapse 
of  eight  years,  M.  Lartet  visited  Aurignac,  even  the  place 
could  not  be  pointed  out  into  which  the  skeletons  had  been 
thrown. 

The  eminent  antiquary,  however,  resolved  systematically 
to  investigate  the  ground  inside  and  outside  the  vault,  and, 
having  obtained  the  assistance  of  some  intelligent  workmen, 
made  the  following  interesting  discoveries,  which  amply  re- 
warded him  for  his  trouble.  Outside  the  grotto,  he  found  a 
layer  of  ashes  and  charcoal,  about  six  inches  thick,  extending 
over  an  area  of  six  or  seven  square  yards,  and  going  no 
further  than  the  entrance  of  the  caire,  there  being  no  cinders 
or  charcoal  in  the  interior.  Among  the  ashes  were  fragments 
of  sandstone,  reddened  by  heat,  which  had  once  formed  a 
hearth,  not  fewer  than  a  hundred  flint  articles,  and  knives, 
projectiles,  sling-stones,  and  chips.  Here  also  lay  scattered 
the  bones   of  various  animals,   some  belonging  to    species 


230  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

extinct  for  thousands  of  years  in  France,  such  as  the 
mammoth,  the  Siberian  rhinoceros,  the  reindeer,  and  the 
gigantic  Irish  deer;  and  among  these  bones  those  which 
had  contained  marrow  were  invariably  split  open,  as  if  for 
its  extraction,  many  of  them  being  also  burnt.  The  spongy 
parts,  moreover,  were  wanting,  having  been  eaten  off  and 
gnawed  after  they  were  broken — the  work,  according  to  M. 
Lartet,  of  hyenas,  whose  bones  and  coprolites  were  mixed 
with  the  cinders  and  dispersed  through  the  overlying  soil. 
These  beasts  of  prey  are  supposed  to  have  prowled  about 
the  spot,  and  fed  on  such  relics  of  the  funeral  feasts  as 
remained  after  the  retreat  of  the  human  visitors. 

In  the  cave  itself,  along  with  some  detached  human  bones 
which  had  escaped  removal  to  the  churchyard,  were  also  found 
the  bones  of  animals  and  some  rude  works  of  art,  flat  pieces 
of  shell  pierced  through  the  middle  as  if  for  being  strung  into 
a  bracelet,  and  the  carved  tusk  of  a  young  boar,  perforated 
lengthwise  as  if  for  suspension  as  an  ornament.  The  bones 
of  animals  inside  the  vault  differed  in  a  remarkable  manner 
from  those  of  the  exterior,  as  none  of  them  were  broken, 
gnawed,  half-eaten,  or  burnt,  like  those  which  were  found 
lying  among  the  ashes  on  the  other  side  of  the  great  slab 
which  formed  the  portal.  They  seemed  also  to  have  been 
clothed  with  their  flesh  when  buried  in  the  layer  of  loose  soil 
strewed  over  the  floor,  as  they  were  often  observed  to  be  in 
juxtaposition,  and  in  one  spot  all  the  bones  of  the  leg  of  an 
Ursus  spelceus  were  lying  together  uninjured.  When  we 
consider  that  it  is  still  the  custom  of  many  savage  tribes  to 
bury  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead  pieces  of  meat,  such  as  the 
bear's  fat  haunch,  so  that  they  may  not  lack  food  on  their 
long  journey  to  the  land  of  spirits,  we  gain  a  most  interesting 
glimpse  into  the  life  of  prehistoric  man,  the  contemporary  of 
the  reindeer,  the  cave-bear,  and  the  mammoth  in  the  South 
of  France.  Armed  with  flint  weapons,  he  had  established  his 
supremacy  over  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest.  Rude  and 
ferocious  as  no  doubt  he  was,  he  carefully  preserved  the 
remains  of  his  friends  and  kinsfolk,  and  performed  funeral 
feasts  before  the  vaults  in  which  their  bodies  were  interred. 

The  lower  parts  of  the  Valley  of  the  Somme,  far  above 
Amiens  and  below  Abbeville,  as  far  as  the  sea,  are  covered 


PEAT   BEDS    OF    THE    SOMME    VALLEY.  231 

with  a  bed  of  peat,  in  some  places  more  than  thirty  feet  thick. 
Near  the  surface  of  these  moor  grounds  Gallo-Roman  remains 
have  been  found,  and,  still  deeper,  Celtic  weapons  of  the  stone 
period  ;  but  the  thickness  of  the  superincumbent  vegetable 
matter  is  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  underlying  peat,  so  that 
many  thousands  of  years  must  necessarily  have  passed  since 
the  first  growth  of  that  swampy  vegetation.  But,  however 
remote  its  age,  it  is  still  of  later  date  than  the  adjoining  or 
underlying  alluvial  deposits  of  clay,  gravel,  and  sand,  which 
cannot  originally  have  ended  abruptly  as  they  do  now,  but 
must  have  once  been  continuous  further  towards  the  centre 
of  the  valley.  A  long  time  must  necessarily  have  elapsed 
between  their  deposition  and  subsequent  denudation,  and  the 
first  growth  of  the  peat.  In  the  lowest,  and  consequently 
oldest,  of  these  beds,  there  has  been  found  also  a  mixture  of 
freshwater  and  marine  shells,  bones  of  the  primitive  elephant 
and  teichorhine  rhinoceros,  and  a  number  of  flint  implements 
shaped  by  the  hands  of  man.  Thus  we  have  here  convincing 
proofs  that  a  race  of  savages  inhabited  the  Valley  of  the 
Somme  long  before  it  was  scooped  out  to  its  present  depth, 
and  when  as  yet  not  a  trace  existed  of  the  thick  bed  of  peat 
which  now  covers  its  lower  grounds,  and  required  so  many 
thousand  years  for  its  formation. 

Similar  flint  implements,  in  connexion  with  the  bones  of 
extinct  animals,  have  been  disinterred  from  ancient  drift 
formations  in  many  parts  of  England — in  Surrey,  Middlesex, 
Kent,  Bedfordshire,  and  Suffolk.  In  the  British  Museum 
there  is,  among  others,  a  flint  spear-headed  weapon  which  was 
found  with  an  elephant's  tooth  near  Gray's  Inn  Lane  in  1715. 

When,  according  to  the  old  myth,  Evander  led  iEneas 
over  the  site  of  future  Home,  they  saw  the  cattle  grazing  in 
what  was  to  be  the  Eorum,  and  heard  them  bellowing  among 
the  future  dwellings  of  the  rich  senators  and  knights, 

'  passimque  armenta  videbant 

Romanoque  Foro  et  lautis  mugire  Oarinis.' 

The  change  thus  pointed  out  by  Yirgil  was  far  less  than  that 
exemplified  by  these  few  relics  of  a  time  when  possibly  no 
intervening  sea  separated  Britain  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 


232  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTEE   XXL 

TROGLODYTES    OR   CAVE-DWELLERS — CANNIBAL   CAVES. 

Cave  Dwellings  in  the  Val  d'Ispica — The  Sicanians — Cannibal  Cares  in  South 
Africa — The  Rock  City  of  the  Themud— Legendary  Tale  of  its  Destruction. 

CAYES  were  probably  the  earliest  habitations  of  primitive 
man,  the  first  rude  shelter  for  which  he  had  to  do  battle 
with  the  hyena  or  the  bear.  As  we  have  seen  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  some  of  the  oldest  relics  of  his  prehistoric 
existence  have  been  discovered  in  caves ;  and  at  a  far  later 
period,  when  he  had  already  made  some  progress  in  the  arts, 
we  find  many  races  still  adhering  to  the  subterranean  dwell- 
ings of  their  forefathers.  Such  a  state  of  things  may  pos- 
sibly be  indicated  in  the  mythical  stories  of  the  Greek  and 
Trojan  heroes,  who,  near  the  base  of  Mount  Etna,  are  said 
to  have  found  caverns  tenanted  by  the  troglodytic  tribe  of 
the  Cyclops. 

In  another  part  of  Sicily  the  old  cave-dwellings  of  the 
Val  d'Ispica  deservedly  attract  the  antiquarian's  attention. 
The  vale  is  a  narrow  gorge,  situated  between  Modica  and 
Spaccafurno ;  and  throughout  its  whole  length  of  about  eight 
Italian  miles,  the  rock-walls  on  both  sides  are  pierced  with 
innumerable  grottoes,  which  at  first  sight  might  be  taken 
for  the  productions  of  nature,  but  on  a  closer  inspection  evi- 
dently show  that  they  are  the  work  of  man,  and  have  been 
originally  excavated  to  serve  as  dwellings.  The  luxuriant 
vegetation  of  the  Yal  forms  a  pleasing  contrast  with  the 
naked  sterility  of  the  plain  in  which  it  is  imbedded ;  a  small 
rivulet  flows  along  the  bottom,  and  irrigates  wild  fig-trees 
and  stately  oleanders ;  on  a  higher  level  grow  broad-leaved 
acanthuses    and   wild    artichokes,    while   thick   festoons    of 


CAVE-DWELLINGS    IN   SICILY.  233 

cactus  hang  down  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  and  shade  the 
entrance  of  the  grottoes.  These  are  excavated  at  various 
heights  above  the  bottom  of  the  vale,  and  often  consist  of  two 
or  three  stories,  one  above  the  other.  A  great  part  of  the 
rock- wall  on  the  right  bank  of  the  brook  has  fallen  in,  and 
exposes  to  sight  the  internal  arrangement  of  the  dwellings. 
On  the  mounds  of  rubbish  the  visitor  is  able  to  ascend  to 
the  entrances  of  the  caves,  which  originally  can  have  been 
accessible  only  by  ladders.  The  chambers  are  seldom  more 
than  twenty  feet  deep  and  six  feet  high  and  broad.  The 
above-mentioned  rock-slip  has  laid  open,  among  others,  a 
dwelling  of  three  stories,  with  nights  of  steps  in  a  good  state 
of  preservation,  to  which,  on  account  of  its  superior  dimen- 
sions, the  neighbouring  peasants  have  given  the  name  of 
Castello  d'Ispica,  and  which  may  have  been  the  abode  of  a 
chieftain. 

Several  mortar-like  basins  or  troughs,  hollowed  in  the  rock, 
evidently  served  for  the  pounding  of  corn,  so  that  the  inha- 
bitants, whoever  they  were,  must  have  known  at  least  some 
of  the  arts  of  civilised  life.  A  few  of  the  rooms  or  burrows 
(for  their  size  hardly  warrants  a  better  name)  are  still  tenanted 
by  shepherds,  whose  whole  furniture  consists  of  a  kettle,  a  few 
pots,  and  some  skins  to  lie  upon.  Parthey,  a  learned  German 
traveller,"*  who  visited  many  of  the  caves  (the  whole  number 
probably  exceeding  1,500),  nowhere  found  the  least  traces  of 
ornament  about  them ;  the  doors  and  windows  were  mere 
rough  holes  broken  through  the  rock.  Thus  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  fragments  of  painted  vases  and  sculptured 
marble  that  have  been  found  here  and  there  in  the  caves 
belong  to  a  much  later  period,  for  a  people  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced in  the  arts  to  paint  vases  and  to  chisel  marble  could 
not  possibly  have  been  content  with  a  mole-like  existence. 
If  we  seek  to  ascertain  the  probable  age  of  this  cavern  city, 
all  circumstances  combine  to  throw  back  its  origin  to  a  very 
ancient  date.  The  total  want  of  artistic  decoration  at  once 
forbids  us  to  assign  these  extensive  but  rude  excavations  to 
one  of  the  Greek  tribes  which  successively  founded  colonies  in 
the  island  after  expelling  the  aborigines  from  their  ancestral 
seats.     In  the  Roman,  the  Saracenic,  or  some  later  period  a 

*  '  Wanderungcn  clurch  Sicilien.' 


234  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

band  of  fugitives  might  indeed  have  found  a  temporary 
retreat  in  this  remote  vale,  but  could  hardly  have  remained 
concealed  long  enough  to  execute  a  work  which  evidently 
required  long  years  of  undisturbed  toil.  Thus  it  has  been 
conjectured  that  these  caves  were  the  dwellings  of  the 
ancient  Sicanians,  a  people  who  became  known  to  history 
only  when  about  to  disappear  for  ever  from  the  stage  of  the 
world,  having  left  no  memorial  of  their  existence  save 
perhaps  these  rude  vestiges  of  "an  infant  state  of  society. 

We  may  justly  presume  that  the  aborigines  of  Malta,  the 
Balearic  Islands,  and  Sardinia  were  likewise  troglodytes 
when  the  first  foreign  colonists  landed  on  the  shores  of 
these  islands.  And  such,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than 
thirty  centuries,  are  the  Sarde  shepherds  of  the  present  day, 
who  frequently  have  no  better  dwellings  than  the  caves  of 
the  rocks. 

In  Southern  Italy  the  traveller  meets  with  traces  of  the 
same  primitive  mode  of  life.  Near  a  place  called  Iscalonga, 
in  the  province  of  Basilicata  Mr.  Mallet  found  many  in- 
habited caves,  excavated  in  dry  tufa  of  extreme  antiquity. 
Some  of  the  troglodytes  came  out  to  see  him  pass,  and  looked 
savage  and  queer  enough  in  their  rough  brown  blanket- cloaks, 
with  peaked  hoods  and  sheepskins. 

Irrespective  of  climate,  we  at  the  present  day  find  cave- 
dwellers  among  the  tribes  of  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North 
and  the  Arabs  of  the  stony  wastes  bordering  on  the  Red  Sea, 
in  the  Libyan  deserts,  and  in  the  sandstone  rocks  of  Southern 
Africa,  wherever  nature  has  formed  grottoes  or  the  soft 
material  admits  of  an  easy  excavation. 

Amongst  the  many  interesting  objects  of  the  Transgariep 
country  are  the  celebrated  cannibal  caverns  which  extend 
from  the  Moluta  river  to  the  Caledon  river.  Thirty  years 
ago  they  were  inhabited  by  a  race  of  men  who,  like  the  lion 
or  the  panther,  were  the  scourge  of  the  whole  neighbouring 
country.  Their  mode  of  living  was  to  send  out  hunting 
parties,  who  would  conceal  themselves  among  the  rocks  and 
bushes,  and  lie  in  ambush  near  roads,  drifts,  gardens,  or 
watering-places  for  the  purpose  of  surprising  and  capturing 
women,  children,  or  travellers.  The  influence  of  the  chieftain 
Moshesh  induced  them  to  change  their  evil  practices  for  a 


CANNIBAL    CAVES.  235 

better  mode  of  life,  and  they  are  now  said  to  be  an  inoffensive 
people  of  agriculturists  and  traders.  When  Mr.  James  Henry 
Bowker  visited  the  caves  near  the  sources  of  the  Caledon  river, 
in  1868,  he  met  at  one  of  them  an  old  savage,  one  of  the  most 
ill-looking  ruffians  he  had  ever  beheld,  who  had  formerly 
assisted  at  the  cooking  and  bone-picking  of  many  a  human  vic- 
tim, and,  like  the  Last  Minstrel,  seemed  greatly  to  regret  that 


and  that 


'  Old  times  were  changed, 
Old  manners  gone  ; ' 

'  The  bigots  of  the  iron  time 
Had  called  his  harmless  life  a  crime.' 


The  largest  cavern  is  situated  amongst  the  mountains  be- 
yond Thaba  Bosigo,  the  residence  of  the  old  chief  Moshesh, 
about  ten  miles  distant  from  the  deserted  missionary  station 
Cana.  The  entrance  to  this  cavern  is  formed  by  the  over- 
hanging cliff,  and  its  arched  and  lofty  roof  is  blackened  with 
the  smoke  and  soot  of  the  fires  which  served  for  the  prepa- 
ration of  many  a  horrible  repast.  At  the  further  end  of  the 
cave  some  rough  irregular  steps  led  up  to  a  gloomy-looking 
natural  gallery  where  the  victims  not  required  for  immediate 
consumption  were  confined.  The  cannibals,  consisting  of 
Betshuana  and  Kafir  tribes,  had  the  less  excuse  for  their  bar- 
barity as  they  inhabit  a  fine  agricultural  country,  which  like- 
wise abounds  in  game ;  but  it  is  said  that,  having  in  a  time  of 
famine  been  reduced  to  the  horrible  extremity  of  eating 
human  flesh,  they  acquired  a  taste  for  it,  and  continued  to 
relish  it  as  a  delicacy  even  in  times  of  abundance.  Though 
they  are  now  reported  to  be  no  longer  cannibals,  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  they  have  not  yet  entirely  abandoned  their 
diabolical  way  of  living,  for  among  the  numerous  bones 
which  strewed  the  floor  of  the  cavern  and  had  chiefly  belonged 
to  children  and  young  persons,  Mr.  Bowker  found  some  that 
could  hardly  have  been  there  many  months.  The  skull  of  a 
child  which  lay  before  the  mouth  of  the  cavern  afforded  a 
touching  example  of  '  life  in  death,'  for  a  little  bulb  had 
sprung  up  from  its  cavity  and  covered  it  with  a  graceful  tuft 
of  drooping  leaves. 

At  the  distance  of  a  ten  days'  journey  from  Medina  on  the 
road  of  the  pilgrim  caravans  from  Damascus,  lies  the  deserted 


236  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

rock- city  of  the  Themud,  where  a  whole  people  had  hewn  their 
dwellings  in  the  black  rock,  decorating  the  entrances  with 
small  columns  on  both  sides,  and  tracir  g  numerous  inscrip- 
tions on  the  walls.  No  European  traveller  has  ever  visited 
this  curious  spot,  for  the  Bedouins  render  the  neighbourhood 
insecure,  and  the  pilgrims  to  the  holy  cities  allow  no  infidel 
to  accompany  them  on  their  journey.  How  the  subter- 
ranean city  came  to  be  deserted  is  still  a  secret  of  the  past ; 
but  probably  its  ruin  must  be  traced  back  as  far  as  the  first 
or  second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  for  Mahomet  cites 
it  more  than  once  in  his  Koran  as  a  warning  to  all  true 
believers.  According  to  the  legend  the  prophet  Saleh  once 
came  to  Themud  to  convert  the  idolatrous  inhabitants  to  the 
belief  of  the  one  true  God.  As  a  proof  of  his  divine  mission  they 
required  a  miracle  to  be  performed,  upon  which  the  prophet, 
raising  his  staff,  struck  the  rock,  which  immediately  opened 
and  gave  passage  to  a  she-camel  with  its  young.  But  the 
obdurate  pagans,  still  persisting  in  their  incredulity,  killed 
the  camel,  and  the  young  would  no  doubt  have  shared  its 
mother's  fate,  if  it  had  not  speedily  retired  into  the  rock 
whence  it  had  come  forth.  The  sacrilegious  crime  of  the 
Themud  did  not  long  remain  unpunished.  A  dreadful  earth- 
quake destroyed  them  to  the  last  man,  and  ever  since  the 
place  is  cursed.  When  the  caravan  passes  by,  the  pilgrims 
raise  loud  shouts  and  hurry  along  as  fast  as  they  can,  fearful 
of  their  dromedaries  becoming  shy  from  the  wailings  of  the 
young  camel,  which  is  still  supposed  to  exist  in  the  rock. 


237 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

TUNNELS. 

Subterranean  London — The  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel — Its  Length — Ingenious  Boring 
Apparatus — The  Grotto  of  the  Pausilippo — The  Tomb  of  Virgil. 

THE  most  renowned  subterranean  works  of  previous  ages 
are  generally  of  a  religious  character,  as  they  have  been 
executed  to  serve  either  as  resting-places  for  the  dead,  or  as 
temples  in  which  gods  or  saints  were  worshipped.  Thus  the 
rock-tombs  of  the  Egyptian  Pharaohs  and  the  sacred  grottoes 
of  India  still  bear  witness  to  the  feelings  which  conceived 
and  realised  the  idea  of  these  stupendous  excavations. 

Our  own  times  furnish  no  similar  examples  of  underground 
temples  or  mausoleums  on  a  scale  so  grand  as  to  command 
the  admiration  of  posterity.  We  neither  scoop  out  whole 
mountains  nor  deeply  plunge  into  the  entrails  of  the  earth  to 
reverence  the  dead  or  to  testify  our  devotion ;  our  subterra- 
nean labours  all  bear  the  stamp  of  practical  utility.  But 
never  yet  has  the  genius  of  man  executed  such  wondrous 
excavations  as  those  of  the  present  day ;  and  though  the 
purposes  for  which  they  are  performed  may  seem  common- 
place  and  prosaic  when  compared  with  the  ideal  aims  of  the 
unknown  artists  who  planned  the  Pharaonic  rock-tombs,  or 
the  temples  of  Ellora,  yet  the  boldness  of  their  conception 
entitles  them  to  rank  among  the  grandest  architectural 
works,  while  the  difficulty  of  their  execution  would  have 
appalled  the  most  enterprising  engineers  of  any  age. 

Modern  London  alone  has  more  subterranean  wonders  to 
boast  of  than  all  the  capitals  of  the  ancient  world.  As  in 
the  human  frame  numberless  vessels  and  nerves  provide 
for  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and  convey  telegraphic 
signals    through    every   part,  so  in   the    vast   body  of  our 


238 


TIT  10    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


metropolis  an  amazing  system  of  subterranean  communica- 
tion carries  off  the  sewerage  of  its  millions  of  inhabitants, 
provides  them  with  light  and  water,  conveys  intelligence 
from  one  end  to  the  other  of  its  enormous  circuit  almost  with 
the  rapidity  of  thought,  transports  thousands  of  travellers 
below  the  crowded  streets,  and,  not  satisfied  with  all  these 
achievements,  opens  passages  under  the  broad  river  to  which 
it  owes  its  boundless  wealth. 

But  even  the  wonders  of  subterranean  London,  or  of  Paris 
— where  troops  moving  underground  can  march  from  one 
fortified  caserne  to  the  other,  so  that,  in  a  more  literal  sense 
than  Pompey,  the  rulers  of  Prance  can  say  that  they  have  but 


BORING   MACHINE  IX   THE  TIXXKL,   MONT   C MOMS. 


to  stamp  upon  the  ground  to  make  legions  start  up  from  the 
soil — are  surpassed  by  those  which  the  railroad  calls  forth  in 
its  triumphal  progress  through  the  world.  The  Alps  them- 
selves, with  their  eternal  snows,  no  longer  oppose  a  barrier  to 
the  locomotive ;  and  we  have  lived  to  witness  the  completion 
of  the  most  gigantic  tunnel  ever  yet  devised  by  man.  The 
borer  has  slowly  but  indefatigably  done  its  work  in  the 
entrails  of  Mont  Cenis,  and  the  subterranean  junction  of 
France  and  Italy  has  been  at  length  achieved.  The  tunnel, 
which  pierces  12,201  metres,  or  nearly  seven  miles,  of  solid 


THE    MONT    CENTS    TUNNEL. 


239 


rock,  opens  on  the  Italian  side  at  Bardonneche,  1,291  metres 
(about  4,000  feet)  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  on  the 
French  side  at  Modane,  at  a  height  of  1,163  metres.  From 
each  opening  the  tunnel  gently  ascends  towards  its  culmi- 
nating point  in  the  centre  of  the  mountain,  so  as  to  allow  the 
waters  to  drain  off  on  either  side.  The  direction  of  the 
excavations  was  determined  by  trigonometrical  measurement, 
which  of  course  required  the  nicest  accuracy,  as  a  deviation 
of  but  half  a  centimetre  on  both  sides  would  amount  to  no 
less  than  120  metres  in  the  centre. 


BORING   MACHINE   IX    THE    SKC'OND    WolIKlNG    UAIXEKY,    .MONT   CEXIS   TLXXKL. 


For  this  purpose  a  signal  was  erected  on  the  mountain 
above  the  culminating  point  or  the  centre  of  the  tunnel;  and 
opposite  to  each  entrance,  in  the  same  longitudinal  axis,  a 
large  theodolite  pointed  to  the  above-mentioned  signal  and 
towards  a  light  in  the  interior  of  the  tunnel,  so  that  the 
slightest  deviation  from  the  requisite  direction  was  rendered 
mathematically  impossible. 

The  machines  used  in  the  drivage  of  the  tunnel  were  worked 
by  means  of  compressed  air.  The  comminuted  rock  produced 
during  the  boring  was  continuously  removed  by  a  jet  of  water 


240  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

squirted  into  the  hole  by  the  machine — a  precaution  which 
was  found  to  be  of  great  economy  in  the  wear  of  the 
tools.  Under  ordinary  conditions  the  working  speed  was 
about  200  strokes  per  minute,  at  which  rate  from  eight  to 
ten  holes,  of  1*6  inches  diameter  and  35  inches  deep,  could 
be  bored  in  the  shift  of  six  hours.  The  tunnel  is  of  an  Q 
section,  13  feet  broad  and  9  J  feet  high  ;  eight  machines  were 
employed  at  one  time;  they  were  mounted  on  a  wrought- iron 
frame,  which  travelled  on  a  railway,  and  could  be  removed  to 
a  safe  distance  when  the  blasting  took  place.  From  65  to  70 
holes  were  bored  in  the  face  of  the  rock,  and  then  loaded  with 
uniform  charges,  made  up  into  cartridges,  and  primed  with 
fuses  of  different  lengths,  so  as  to  explode  in  groups  at  defi- 
nite intervals.  A  horizontal  series  at  about  mid  height  was 
first  fired,  then  followed  two  vertical  side  rows,  then  a  group 
near  the  crown  of  the  arch,  and  finally  a  horizontal  series  near 
the  floor.  In  this  way  the  rock  was  blown  down  in  nearly  uni- 
form fragments  of  from  six  to  eight  inches  in  the  side.  At 
first,  owing  to  the  hardness  of  the  quartz-slate  which  had  to 
be  pierced,  the  work  went  on  very  slowly ;  but  at  a  greater 
depth,  the  mountain  was  found  to  consist  of  limestone  strata, 
so  that  at  length  it  advanced  about  thirteen  feet  per  day. 

The  compressed  air  which  set  the  borers  in  motion  served 
also  for  the  ventilation  of  the  tunnel,  as  every  stroke  of  the 
piston  liberated  sufficient  pure  air  to  drive  back  to  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  workmen  the  suffocating  gases, 
produced  by  the  blasting,  which  otherwise  would  render 
breathing  impossible.  Air-pumps  placed  before  the  entrance 
finally  conducted  the  fumes  of  the  gunpowder  or  dynamite 
into  the  open  air.  It  is  evident  that  the  difference  in 
height  of  the  two  openings,  and  the  gradual  ascent  towards 
the  centre,  will  insure  a  thorough  ventilation.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  September  1869  the  Italian  side  of  the  tunnel, 
which  is  5,913  metres  long,  was  completed,  while  on  the 
French  side  only  4,222  metres  were  accomplished  and  2056 
remained  to  be  bored,  and  it  was  calculated  that  this  gigantic 
enterprise  would  most  probably  be  terminated  by  the  begin- 
ning of  1871.  It  was,  however,  completed  a  few  days 
earlier. 

When  Louis  Quatorze,  that  model  of  regal  pomposity,  sue- 


GEOTTO    OF    PAUSILIPPO.  241 

ceeded  in  placing  the  crown  of  Spain  on  the  head  of  his 
grandson  Philip  of  Anjou,  he  bid  him  grandiloquently  fare- 
well with  the  words  :  c  Go,  my  son  !  the  Pyrenees  no  longer 
exist.'  With  more  truth  is  our  age  able  now  to  declare  that 
the  Alps  have  ceased  to  be  a  barrier  between  nations. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Mont  Cenis  tunnel  will 
soon  be  followed  by  similar  undertakings,  some  probably  on 
a  still  grander  scale.  The  governments  of  Italy,  Switzerland, 
and  Germany  have  already  decided  upon  piercing  a  tunnel 
through  the  Mount  St.  Gothard.  In  winter  the  traveller 
will  no  longer  be  obliged  to  ascend  the  solitudes  of  the 
Schollenen,  to  cross  the  Devil's  Bridge,  and  then,  after  tra- 
versing the  valley  of  Urseren,  to  pursue  his  perilous  way  up  to 
the  summit  of  the  pass,  before  a  zigzag  descent,  along  yawn- 
ing precipices,  leads  him  into  the  sunny  vale  of  the  Ticino ; 
but  at  Goschenen  on  the  north  he  will  plunge  at  once  into 
the  bowels  of  the  mountain,  and  in  an  hour  will  suddenly 
emerge  at  Airilo  into  the  genial  south.  In  early  spring  the 
change  of  climate  will  be  almost  miraculous ;  on  one  side 
winter  still  reigning  supreme,  the  earth  covered  with  deep 
snow  and  the  cold  wind  moaning  through  the  leafless  trees 
— and  then,  after  a  short  interval  of  darkness,  the  rich 
vegetation  of  an  Italian  vale  bursting  forth  in  all  its  first 
luxuriance,  birds  singing  in  the  chestnut  groves,  and  the 
green  meads  enamelled  with  myriads  of  flowers. 

It  is  curious  to  compare  these  stupendous  works  with  the 
most  celebrated  tunnel  of  ancient  times,  the  Grotto  of  the 
Pausilippo,  near  Naples,  which  serves  as  a  passage  for  the 
travellers  who  intend  visiting  Puzzuoli,  Baise,  or  Cumse, 
without  being  obliged  to  ascend  the  mountain  or  to  cross  the 
bay.  It  is  about  a  mile  long,  from  thirty  to  eighty  feet  high 
and  twenty-eight  feet  broad,  so  as  to  allow  three  carriages 
to  pass  abreast.  Twice  a  year,  in  February  and  October, 
the  last  rays  of  the  sun  dart  for  a  few  minutes  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  grotto  ;  at  all  other  times  a  speck  of 
gray  uncertain  light  terminates  the  long  and  solemn  per- 
spective. The  origin  of  this  celebrated  grotto  is  unknown. 
Some  old  chroniclers  have  imagined  it  as  ancient  as  the 
Trojan  war ;  others  attribute  it  to  the  mysterious  race  of  the 
Cimmerians. 


242  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

The  Neapolitans  attribute  a  more  modern,  though  not 
more  certain,  origin  to  their  famous  cavern,  and  most  piously 
believe  it  to  have  been  formed  by  the  enchantments  of 
Virgil,  who,  as  Addison  very  justly  observes,  is  better  known 
at  Naples  in  his  magical  character  than  as  the  author  of  the 
'  iEneid.'  This  strange  infatuation  most  probably  arose  from 
the  fact  that  the  tomb,  in  which  his  ashes  are  supposed  to 
have  been  deposited,  is  situated  above  the  grotto,  and  that, 
according  to  popular  tradition,  it  was  guarded  by  those  very 
spirits  who  assisted  in  constructing  the  cave.  King  Robert,  a 
wise,  though  far  from  poetical,  monarch,  conducted  his  friend 
Petrarch  with  great  solemnity  to  the  spot,  and,  pointing  to 
the  entrance  of  the  grotto,  very  gravely  asked  him  whether 
he  did  not  adopt  the  general  belief,  and  conclude  that 
this  stupendous  passage  derived  its  origin  from  Virgil's 
powerful  incantations. 

'  When  I  had  sat  for  some  time,'  says  Beckford,*  '  on  a 
loose  stone  immediately  beneath  the  first  gloomy  arch  of  the 
grotto,  contenrplating  the  dusky  avenue,  and  trying  to  per- 
suade myself  that  it  was  hewn  by  the  Cimmerians,  I  retreated, 
without  proceeding  any  further,  and  followed  a  narrow  path 
which  led  me,  after  some  windings  and  turnings,  along  the 
brink  of  the  precipice,  across  a  vineyard,  to  that  retired  nook 
of  the  rocks  which  shelters  Virgil's  tomb,  most  venerably 
mossed  over  and  more  than  half  concealed  by  bushes  and 
vegetation.  The  clown  who  conducted  me  remained  aloof  at 
awful  distance  whilst  I  sat  communing  with  the  manes  of  my 
beloved  poet,  or  straggled  about  the  shrubbery  which  hangs 
directly  above  the  mouth  of  the  grot. 

'  Advancing  to  the  edge  of  the  rock,  I  saw  crowds  of  people 
and  carriages,  diminished  by  distance,  issuing  from  the 
bosom  of  the  mountain,  and  disappearing  almost  as  soon  as 
discovered  in  the  windings  of  the  road.  Clambering  high 
above  the  cavern,  I  hazarded  my  neck  on  the  top  of  one  of 
the  pines,  and  looked  contemptuously  down  on  the  race  of 
pigmies  that  were  so  busily  moving  to  and  fro.  The  sun  was 
fiercer  than  I  could  have  wished,  but  the  sea  breezes  fanned 
me  in  my  aerial  situation,  which  commanded  the  grand 
sweep  of  the  bay,  varied  by  convents,  palaces,  and  gardens, 

*  '  Italy.' 


THE    TOMB    OF   VIRGIL.  243 

mixed  with  huge  masses  of  rock,  and  crowned  by  the  stately 
buildings  of  the  Carthusians  and  fortress  of  St.  Elmo.  Add 
a  glittering  blue  sea  to  this  perspective,  with  Caprea  rising 
from  its  bosom,  and  Yesuvius  breathing  forth  a  white  column 
of  smoke  into  the  sether,  and  you  will  then  have  a  scene  upon 
which  I  gazed  with  delight  for  more  than  an  hour,  forget- 
ting that  I  was  perched  upon  the  head  of  a  pine  with  no- 
thing but  a  frail  branch  to  uphold  me.  However,  I  descended 
alive,  as  Virgil's  genii,  I  am  resolved  to  believe,  were  my 
protectors.' 


b  2 


244  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

ON   MINES    IN    GENERAL. 

Perils  of  the  Miner's  Life — Number  of  Casualties  in  British  and  Foreign  Coal 
Mines — Life  in  a  Mine — Occurrence  of  Ores — Extent  and  Depth  of  Metallic 
Veins — Mines  frequently  discovered  by  Chance  —  The  Divining  Rod  —  Experi- 
mental Borings — Stirring  Emotions  during  their  Progress — Sinking  of  Shafts — 
Precautions  against  Influx  of  Water — Expense — Shaft  Accidents — Various 
Methods  of  working  Mineral  Substances — Working  in  Direct  and  Reverse  Steps 
— Working  by  Transverse  Attacks — Open  Quarry  Workings — Pillar  and  Stall 
System  —  Long  Wall  System  —  Dangerous  Extraction  of  Pillars  —  Mining  Im- 
plements— Blasting  —  Heroes  in  Humble  Life  —  Firing  in  the  Mine  of  Ram- 
melsberg — Transport  of  Minerals  Underground  —  Modern  Improvements  — 
Various  Modes  of  Descent — Corfs — Wonderful  Preservation  of  a  Girl  at  Fahlun 
— The  Loop — Safety  Cage — Man  Machines — Timbering  and  Walling  of  Galleries 
—Drainage  by  Adit  Levels — Remarkable  Adits — The  Great  Cornish  Adit — The 
Georg  Stollen  in  the  Harz — The  Ernst  August  Stollen — Steam  Pumps — Drown- 
ing of  Mines — Irruption  of  the  Sea  into  Workington  Colliery — Hubert  Goffin 
— Irruption  of  the  River  Garnock  into  a  Mine — Ventilation  of  Mines — Upcast 
Shafts  —  Fire  Damp — Dreadful  Explosions — The  Safety  Lamp — The  Choke 
Damp — Conflagrations  of  Mines — The  Burning  Hill  in  Staffordshire. 

FEW  metals  are  found  in  a  native  state,  nor  are  they 
commonly  scattered  in  loose  masses,  nuggets,  grains, 
or  scales  over  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Hence  the  seeker's 
trouble  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  task  of  gathering  these 
masses,  or  of  separating  them  by  washing  from  the  alluvial 
sand  or  gravel  with  which  they  are  mixed  ;  much  more  fre- 
quently they  are  chemically  combined  with  other  substances 
from  which  a  far  advanced  state  of  science  is  alone  able  to 
separate  them,  or  deeply  imbedded  in  subterranean  mines, 
often  so  difficult  of  access  as  to  tax  for  their  working  all  the 
energies  of  man  and  all  the  resources  of  his  metallurgic  skill. 
The  labours  of  the  miner  require  indeed  no  less  courage  and 
presence  of  mind  than  those  of  the  mariner.  He  no  more 
knows  whether  he  shall  ever  return  from  the  pit  into  which 
he  descends  in  the  morning  for  his  hard  day's  work  than  the 


CASUALTIES    IN   MINES.  245 

sailor  knows  whether  he  shall  ever  revisit  the  port  which  he 
is  leaving.  He  is  perpetually  at  war  with  fire  and  earth, 
with  air  and  water,  and  this  eternal  strife  levies  a  no  less 
heavy  tribute  of  death  and  suffering  than  the  storms  of  the 
raging  seas. 

In  the  year  1867,  1,190  persons  perished  in  our  3,192  col- 
lieries, which  employ  a  total  of  333,116  workmen.  Of  these, 
286  were  killed  by  explosions ;  449  by  falls  of  rock  ;  211  by 
other  subterranean  causes  ;  156  in  the  shafts;  and  88  above 
ground.  In  the  same  year,  293  lives  were  lost  in  the  Prussian 
collieries,  where  102,773  workmen  find  employment.  Of 
these,  39  perished  by  fire-damp;  106  by  fall  of  roof;  65  in 
shafts ;  74  by  casualties  under  ground ;  and  9  by  casualties 
above  ground.  These  melancholy  lists  may  give  us  some  idea 
of  the  number  of  serious  but  non- fatal  accidents  which  are 
not  mentioned  in  the  official  accounts.  Every  visitor  to  a 
coal-mine  will  meet  with  many  pit  lads  who  have  been 
c  lamed '  (or  injured)  several  times  in  a  few  years,  and  who 
reckon  events  by  the  mournful  chronology  of  their  various 
'  lamings.'  Collieries,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  are  in- 
deed peculiarly  liable  to  frightful  accidents ;  yet  the  number 
of  lives  lost  in  the  inspected  ironstone  mines  of  Great  Britain , 
in  1866,  amounted  to  81.  Extending  our  view  to  the  mines 
of  Austria  and  Russia,  of  France  and  Belgium,  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  &c,  &c,  where  the  same  dangers  cause,  no  doubt,  an 
equal  amount  of  death  or  suffering,  we  may  justly  conclude 
that  not  a  day,  probably  not  an  hour,  passes  that  does  not 
doom  more  than  one  miner  to  an  untimely  grave  or  to  per- 
manent mutilation. 

But  if  mining  is  attended  with  a  lamentable  amount  of  in- 
dividual suffering,  the  benefits  derived  from  it  by  mankind  in 
general  are  so  important  that  the  whole  fabric  of  modern 
civilisation  may  be  said  to  rest  upon  its  basis. 

Coal  and  the  useful  metals  rule  the  world.  Wherever  they 
occur  in  large  masses  they  establish  the  prosperity  of  a 
people  on  the  surest  foundations ;  and  England  is  in  a  great 
measure  indebted  for  her  high  station  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth  to  the  treasures  hidden  beneath  her  soil. 

A  large  mine  displays  unquestionably  some  of  the  most 
interesting  scenes  of  human  activity.     The  restless  industry 


246  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

pervading  its  subterranean  caves  and  galleries  impresses  the 
visitor  with  feelings  of  wonder  akin  to  those  which  he  ex- 
periences when  he  first  sets  foot  on  a  man-of-war ;  and  if  he 
feels  giddj  on  seeing  the  sailor  climb  the  loftiest  masts,  the 
sight  of  the  yawning  abyss  into  which  the  miner  undauntedly 
descends  seems  terrible  to  his  unaccustomed  eye  ;  and  as  he 
penetrates  further  and  further  into  the  recesses  of  this 
unknown  world,  his  sensations  are  not  rendered  more 
agreeable. 

The  intricate  passages  branching  out  into  a  mysterious 
distance;  the  vaults  and  high  halls  faintly  illumined  here  and 
there  by  a  glimmering  lamp  ;  the  dark  forms  emerging  every 
now  and  then  from  some  obscure  recess,  and  then  again 
plunging  into  night,  like  demon  shades ;  the  clanking  of 
hammers,  the  rushing  of  waters,  the  creaking  of  wheels,  the 
monotonous  sound  of  machinery,  or  the  loud  explosion  which, 
repeated  by  subterranean  echoes,  rolls  like  muttering  thunder 
from  vault  to  vault,  the  oppressive  air  in  the  low  galleries, 
through  which  he  can  only  move  in  a  stooping  position; 
the  fear  of  being  crushed  any  moment  by  a  falling  rock,  or 
shivered  to  atoms  by  fire-damp  combustion, — all  combine  to 
produce  an  impression  which  can  seldom  be  made  by  any 
scenes  above  ground. 

The  admiration  which  this  imposing  spectacle  necessarily 
calls  forth  in  his  mind  increases  when  he  reflects  how  much 
skill  and  experience  was  required,  and  how  many  improve- 
ments and  inventions  had  to  be  made,  before  mining  could  be 
brought  to  its  present  state  of  perfection. 

Ores  sometimes  occur,  like  coal,  in  layers  or  beds,  running 
parallel  with  the  strata  of  the  inclosing  rocks,  or  in  pro- 
digious irregular  masses.  Most  commonly,  however,  they 
are  found  in  veins  traversing  the  rocks  in  every  conceivable 
direction,  and  filling  the  crevices  and  chasms  which  former 
terrestrial  revolutions  have  rent  in  the  hard  stone.  From  the 
wild  and  titanic  powers  that  have  here  been  at  work,  it  may 
easily  be  imagined  how  irregular  the  direction  of  these  veins 
must  be,  and  under  how  many  various  forms  they  must  appear. 
Here  they  are  horizontal,  there  vertical ;  here  they  form  thin 
layers,  there  they  fill  chasms  several  hundred  feet  thick. 
Sometimes  they  split  into  several  minor  branches,  or  make 


DEPTH   OF   MINES.  247 

abrupt  bends,  and  frequently  they  have  been  rent,  torn,  or 
displaced  in  every  possible  manner  by  subsequent  revolutions. 

Their  length  is  as  various  as  their  thickness  or  their  direc- 
tion. Some  are  short,  while  others  traverse  the  rocks  to  a 
distance  of  many  miles.  Thus  the  argentiferous  veins  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Clausthal,  in  the  Harz,  are  three  leagues 
long,  and  the  famous  Yeta  Madre,  or  chief  lode  of  Guanaxuato 
in  Mexico,  has  been  traced  for  a  length  of  eight  miles. 

With  regard  to  depth,  the  lower  extremity  of  hardly  a 
single  mineral  bed  or  vein  of  any  note  has  as  yet  been  pointed 
out,  though  many  have  been  worked  to  a  considerable  depth. 
Thus,  one  of  the  pits  of  St.  Andreasberg,  in  the  Harz,  is  2,485 
feet  deep,  though,  on  account  of  its  high  situation  in  the 
mountains,  not  much  more  than  280  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  sea,  while,  in  the  coal  mines  of  Valenciennes  and  Liege, 
the  deepest  shafts  are  sunk  from  1,300  to  1,600  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  ocean.  The  shaft  of  the  colliery  of  Sacree 
Madame,  near  Charleroi,  is  800  yards  deep,  and  that  of 
Dukinfield  Colliery  2,050  feet. 

The  great  difficulty  of  carrying  on  mining  operations  at 
great  depths  will,  probably,  for  ever  prevent  most  metallife- 
rous veins  from  being  followed  to  their  origin  in  the  bowels 
of  the  earth  ;  for  while  on  high  mountains  the  rarefaction  of 
the  atmosphere  prevents  respiration,  the  increasing  pressure 
or  impurity  of  the  air  at  a  depth  of  four  or  five  thousand  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  sea  must  necessarily  hinder  the  free 
expansion  of  the  lungs.  The  weakness  of  our  organisation 
soon  sets  limits  to  our  progress,  whether  we  wish  to  rise  into 
the  air  or  to  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the  earth ;  and  it 
is  only  on  spiritual  wings  that  we  soar  aloft  to  the  stars,  or 
wander  through  the  mysterious  depths  of  our  planet. 

How  have  the  ores  been  collected  or  precipitated  in  the 
veins  or  strata  where  they  are  often  found  in  such  enormous 
quantities  ?  Partly  they  ascended  as  vapour  from  unknown 
depths,  and  then  were  condensed  in  the  crevices,  mixing  with 
the  gangue  or  the  stones  which  filled  the  volcanic  chasms;  and 
partly  their  solutions,  of  which  the  mineral  springs  of  the 
present  day  afford  us  so  many  examples,  permeated  the  porous 
rocks,  and  saturated  them  on  cooling,  or  were  forced  to  relin- 
quish their  valuable  contents  by  some  more  powerful  chemical 


248  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

affinity.  Thus,  numberless  years  before  man  appeared  upon 
the  stage  of  his  future  empire,  the  means  were  provided 
without  which  it  would  never  have  been  possible  for  him  to 
establish  his  dominion  over  the  earth,  and  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  treasures  it  bears  on  its  surface. 

When  we  consider  the  frequent  upheavings  and  subsidences 
of  the  earth-rind  and  the  denuding  power  of  water,  which, 
in  the  long  series  of  ages,  cuts  deep  ravines  into  the  moun- 
tains and  washes  away  whole  strata,  we  cannot  wonder  that 
many  metalliferous  veins  emerge  or  crop  out  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  so  that  a  fortunate  chance  sufficed  for  their 
discovery.  Thus,  a  poor  Indian  looking  for  wood  first  found 
the  rich  deposits  of  silver  that  had  so  long  been  buried  in 
obscurity  under  the  sterile  soil  of  Copiapo  in  Chili  (1632). 
Partridges,  in  whose  stomachs  grains  of  gold  were  found,  are 
said  to  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  rich  mines  of  Krem- 
nitz  and  Schemnitz  in  Hungary  ;  and  Eamm,  a  huntsman  of 
the  emperor  Otho  the  Great,  having  bound  his  horse  to  a  tree 
in  a  forest  near  Goslar  in  the  Harz  Mountains,  the  fretful  steed, 
stamping  with  impatience  and  tearing  up  the  soil,  pointed 
out  the  celebrated  lode  of  the  Rammelsberg,  which  is  still 
worked  to  the  present  day. 

But  if  in  these  and  similar  instances  the  treasures  of  the 
subterranean  world  have  revealed  themselves  spontaneously 
to  man,  in  many  other  cases  laborious  and  costly  investi- 
gations have  been  found  necessary  for  their  discovery. 

As  civilisation  advanced,  and  the  value  of  the  metals,  of 
coal  and  salt,  came  to  be  more  and  more  appreciated,  nothing 
could  be  more  natural  than  the  desire  of  no  longer  relying 
upon  the  discoveries  of  chance  or  upon  the  mines  bequeathed 
by  former  ages,  but  of  sounding  the  mysterious  recesses  of 
the  earth,  and  forcing  her,  by  dint  of  patient  exploration,  to 
reveal  the  riches  she  conceals  under  her  surface. 

Thus,  as  far  back  as  the  eleventh  century,  the  divining  rod 
came  into  practice,  and  found  full  credence  in  a  superstitious 
age.  A  forked  branch  of  the  hazel-tree,  cut  during  a  peculiar 
phase  of  the  moon,  was  the  means  employed  in  Germany  for 
the  discovery  of  buried  treasures,  of  veins  of  metal,  of  deposits 
of  salt,  or  of  subterranean  sources.  But  the  miraculous  rod 
did  not  indiscriminately  show  its  powers  in  every  hand ;  it 


DISCOVERIES    OF    LODES.  249 

was  necessary  to  have  been  born  in  certain  months,  and  soft 
and  warm — or,  according  to  the  modern  expression,  magnetic — 
fingers  were  indispensable  for  handling  it  with  effect.  The 
diviner  possessing  these  necessary  qualifications  took  hold  of 
the  rod  by  its  branches  so  that  the  stem  into  which  they 
united  was  directed  upwards.  On  approaching  the  spot 
where  the  sought-for  treasure  lay  concealed,  the  magical  rod 
slowly  turned  towards  it,  until  finally  the  stem  had  fully 
changed  its  position  and  pointed  vertically  downwards.  To 
increase  the  solemnity  of  the  scene,  the  wily  conjurors  gene- 
rally traced  magical  circles  that  were  not  to  be  passed,  burnt 
strong  smelling  herbs  and  spices,  and  uttered  powerful  charms 
to  disarm  the  enmity  of  the  evil  spirits  that  were  supposed 
to  guard  the  hidden  treasures. 

At  present,  the  divining-rod  has  lost  its  old  reputation, 
and  more  rational  means  are  employed  for  the  discovery  of 
mineral  wealth.  Relying  on  experience,  tact,  and  geological 
knowledge,  the  investigator  carefully  examines  the  country 
where  ores  or  coal  are  supposed  to  be  concealed,  and  having 
fixed  upon  an  appropriate  spot,  has  recourse  either  to  experi- 
mental digging  or  to  boring  for  testing  the  truth  of  his 
opinion.  These  expensive  explorations,  though  often  un- 
successful, frequently  prove  highly  remunerative,  and  many 
a  saline  spring,  or  coal  seam,  or  metallic  vein  would,  without 
their  assistance,  have  remained  unknown  and  unproductive. 

Boring  through  hard  stone  is  necessarily  a  very  tedious 
work,  but  as  it  proceeds  it  awakens  not  only  in  those  who  are 
directly  interested  in  its  success,  but  in  every  intelligent  wit- 
ness, all  the  stirring  emotions  of  a  game  of  chance.  '  Of  all 
branches  of  business,'  says  Williams,  a  thoroughly  devoted 
miner — '  of  all  the  experiments  that  a  man  of  sensibility  can  be 
engaged  in,  or  attend  to,  there  is,  perhaps,  none  so  amusing, 
so  engaging,  and  delightful  as  a  successful  trial  upon  the 
vestigia,  or  appearances,  of  a  seam  of  coal,  or  other  mineral 
discoveries.  When  you  are  attending  the  people  who  are 
digging  down  or  forward  upon  the  vestige  of  the  coal, 
and  the  indications  are  increasing  and  still  growing  better 
under  your  eye,  the  spirit  of  curiosity  and  attention  is 
awakened,  and  all  the  powers  of  expectation  are  elevated  in 
pleasing  hopes  of  success.     And  when  your  wishes   are  at 


250  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

length  actually  fulfilled — when  you  have  discovered  a 
good  coal  of  sufficient  thickness,  and  all  circumstances  are 
favourable,  the  heart  then  triumphs  with  solid  and  satis- 
factory joy.' 

In  a  mining*  country  like  England,  where  the  spirit  of 
enterprise  is  continually  on  the  look-out  for  new  sources  of 
profit,  it  may  naturally  be  supposed  that  searches  for  coal 
or  metallic  ore  must  be  frequently  undertaken.  Thus  in  all 
our  mining  districts  there  are  professional  master-borers,  who 
engage  for  a  fixed  price  to  drill  the  hardest  rock  to  any  depth 
that  may  be  required.*  Their  chief  implements  are  boring- 
rods,  made  of  the  best  and  most  tenacious  Swedish  iron  ; 
chisels  fitted  with  screws,  tipped  with  good  steel,  with 
a  face  of  two  and  a  half  to  three  and  a  quarter  inches,  and 
generally  eighteen  inches  in  length ;  and  a  wimble,  which 
is  a  hollow  iron  instrument  like  an  auger,  whose  cavity  is 
from  six  to  ten  inches  in  length,  with  an  opening  up  at  one 
side,  with  partial  overlap,  the  better  to  receive  and  hold 
the  chopped  strata. 

When  the  bore  is  intended  to  penetrate  to  a  considerable 
depth,  a  lofty  triangle  of  wood  is  set  above  the  bore-hole. 
In  boring,  the  lowermost  rod  is  the  chisel,  which  continually 
operates  on  the  rock  or  stratum.  The  uppermost  rod  termi- 
nates in  a  stout  ring,  through  which  passes  a  cross-piece  held 
by  two  men  in  working,  and  which  is  also  suspended  to  a 
springing  pole  by  a  chain.  One  or  more  rods  being  pushed 
into  the  ground,  two  men  on  a  wooden  stage  take  hold  of  a 
cross  stave  at  the  end  of  the  springing  pole  and  work  it 
steadily  up  and  down,  while  two  men  below,  by  means  of 
the  cross-piece,  at  the  same  time  heave  the  suspended  rods  a 
few  inches,  and  then  allow  them  to  fall  by  their  own  weight, 
walking  slowly  round  the  hole.     By  these  combined  opera- 

*  In  the  North  of  England  the  prices  of  boring  in  the  ordinary  strata  of  that 
coal-field  are  as  follows  : — 


First  five  fathoms 
Second  five        „ 

s. 

5 

11 

d. 

6  per  fathom. 

0 

Third  five 

16 

6 

Fourth  five        „ 

22 

0 

and  so  increasing  5s.  6d.  per  fathom  on  each  succeeding  depth  of  five  fathoms.     In 
boring  through  very  hard  strata  the  prices  are  from  80  to  1 00  per  cent,  higher. 


BORING    FOR    MINERALS. 


'251 


tions  of  chopping  and  scooping  the  workmen  make  slow  bnt 
sure  way  through  whatever  substance  may  be  in  contact  with 
the  chisel.  When  the  hole  is  too  deep,  and  the  added  rods 
become  too  heavy  to  be  conveniently  lifted  by  manual  labour, 
a  brake  or  lever,  or  a  horse-gin  or  steam-engine,  is  employed. 
As  the  boring  proceeds,  it  is  also  frequently  necessary  to 
lower  pipes  into  the  hole  made,  to  prevent  the  falling  of 
fragments  from  the  sides  of  the  cylinder. 

When  the  position  of  a  mineral  vein   is  ascertained,  its 


PROCESS  OF  BORING. 


direction  known,  and  some  reasonable  conjecture  made  con- 
cerning its  extent,  thickness,  and  value,  measures  must  be  taken 
to  obtain,  by  subterraneous  excavation,  the  buried  mineral, 
and  for  this  purpose  vertical  pits  or  shafts  must  be  sunk, 
and  horizontal  galleries,  or,  as  they  are  sometimes  called, 
levels,  must  be  driven,  to  prepare  the  way  for  its  convenient 
extraction,  and  at  the  same  time  to  carry  off,  so  far  as  may 
be,  the  water  which  either  rises  into  the  mine  from  springs, 
or  drains  into  it  from  the  surrounding  strata.  Some  idea 
may  be  formed  of  the  extent  of  these  works  in  many  of 
the  more  considerable  mines,  when  we  learn  that  the 
total  amount  of  sinking  in  the  Consolidated  Mines  in 
Cornwall  is  stated  to  amount  to  more  than  twelve  miles 
of  perpendicular  depth  (including,  of  course,  the  winzes  or 


252 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


underground  shafts), 
and  that  the  horizontal 
galleries  extend  to  as 
much  as  forty  miles  in 
length.  A  mine  like 
this  is,  in  fact,  a  large 
subterranean  town,  with 
numerous  lanes  and 
avenues,  passages  and 
thoroughfares. 

In  sinking  a  shaft, 
danger  is  to  be  appre- 
hended both  from  the 
falling  in  of  loose  and 
incoherent  strata,  and 
from  the  lateral  springs, 
which  sometimes  empty 
themselves  into  the 
workings  to  an  extent 
which  it  would  at  first 
appear  hopeless  to  con- 
tend against.  In  such 
cases  there  is  no  safety 
to  be  obtained  with- 
out walling  the  shaft 
with  brick  or  stone,  or 
securing  it  by  timber 
or  metal  tubbing.  For 
this  purpose  many  of 
our  coal  pits  were  for- 
merly lined  through- 
out with  three  -  inch 
boards,  nailed  to  a  cir- 
cular wooden  framework 
called  a  crib,  which  was 
firmly  attached  to  the 
sides  of  the  pit  at  con- 
venient distances.  But 
this  method,  although  it 
has  been  known  to  keep 
out  a  pressure  of  water 


EXCLUSION    OF  WATER   FKOM   MINES.  253 

equal  to  100  pounds  on  the  square  inch,  is  not  considered 
so  safe  as  the  metal  tubbing  now  adopted  in  all  difficult 
works.  In  comparatively  solid  ground  the  cast-iron  tubs  are 
forced  down  the  shaft,  but  in  soft  ground  they  sink  by 
their  own  weight.  As  they  descend,  fresh  tubs  are  added, 
until  the  work  is  finished.  When  we  consider  that,  in 
the  coal-pits  in  the  north  of  England,  many  shafts  have  a 
diameter  of  as  much  as  fifteen  feet,  that  in  some  cases  they 
are  sunk  to  a  depth  of  nearly  300  fathoms,  and  that, 
under  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  even  where  tub- 
bing is  not  required  to  guard  against  the  influx  of  springs, 
it  is  necessary  to  line  almost  the  whole  of  the  interior  with 
bricks,  to  prevent  the  loose  strata  from  falling  or  being 
washed  in,  we  cannot  wonder  that  as  much  as  100,000£. 
and  ten  years  of  labour  have,  in  some  cases,  been  ex- 
pended before  the  seam  of  coal  has  been  reached  that  was  to 
repay  all  this  vast  outlay  of  capital  and  time.  Unsightly 
and  filthy  as  such  a  shaft  may  be,  it  is  in  reality  a  great 
triumph  of  architectural  skill. 

In  most  of  our  collieries  one  shaft  serves  for  winding  up 
the  coal,  for  the  passage  of  the  men  up  and  down,  for  ventila- 
tion, and  for  drainage  by  means  of  the  engine-pumps.  To 
answer  these  various  purposes  it  is  subdivided  or  bratticed  by 
brick  or  wooden  partitions  into  two,  three,  or  four  compart- 
ments; but  this  arrangement  is  very  defective,  for  the  safety 
of  the  workmen  requires  that  in  every  large  coal-pit,  and 
indeed  in  every  mine,  there  should  be  at  least  two  separate 
shafts.  When  the  partitions  of  the  single  shaft  become 
injured  or  burnt,  which  has  not  unfrequently  been  the 
case,  the  ventilation  of  the  pit  may  suddenly  be  deranged, 
and  many  lives  have  thus  been  endangered.  The  ob- 
struction of  a  shaft  by  the  breakage  of  an  engine  has 
caused  some  of  the  most  appalling  tragedies  in  mining 
history.  On  January  10,  1862,  the  beam  of  the  pumping 
engine  broke  at  the  Hartley  Colliery  in  the  Newcastle 
coalfield,  and  striking,  like  a  huge  catapult,  with  its  enor- 
mous weight  of  forty  tons,  against  the  sides  of  the  shaft  as 
it  descended,  accumulated  an  enormous  mass  of  rubbish  and 
broken  timbers  at  the  depth  of  138  yards  from  the  surface. 
Two  hundred  and  four  colliers  were  thus  shut  out  from  all 


254  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

hope  of  rescue,  for  no  exertion  could  possibly  remove,  in  time 
enough  to  save  them,  the  vast  pile  of  ruins  that  obstructed 
their  escape  to  the  upper  world. 

The  methods  of  working,  winning,  or  excavating  mineral 
substances  naturally  vary,  according  to  the  magnitude  and 
direction  of  the  beds,  lodes,  or  seams  in  which  they  are 
contained.  With  a  vein  of  moderate  width,  as  soon  as 
the  preparatory  labours  have  brought  the  miners  to  the 
point  of  the  vein  from  which  the  ulterior  workings  are  to 
ramify,  the  first  object  is  to  divide  the  mass  of  ore  into  solid 
rectangular  compartments  by  means  of  oblong  galleries, 
generally  pierced  ten  fathoms  below  one  another,  with  pits 
of  communication  opened  up,  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty  yards 
asunder,  which  follow  the  slope  of  the  vein.  These  galleries 
and  shafts  are  usually  of  the  same  breadth  as  the  vein, 
unless  when  it  is  very  narrow,  in  which  case  it  is  neces- 
sary to  cut  out  a  portion  of  the  roof  or  the  floor.  Such 
workings  serve  at  once  the  purposes  of  mining,  by  afford- 
ing a  portion  of  ore,  and  for  the  complete  investigation  of 
the  nature  and  riches  of  the  vein,  a  certain  extent  of  which 
is  thus  prepared  before  removing  the  cubical  masses.  It  is 
proper  to  advance  first  of  all  in  this  manner  to  the  greatest 
distance  from  the  central  point  which  can  be  mined  with 
economy,  and  afterwards  to  remove  the  rectangular  blocks 
in  working  back  to  that  point.  This  latter  operation  may 
be  carried  on  in  two  different  ways,  by  attacking  the  ore 
from  above  or  from  below.  In  either  case  the  excavations 
are  disposed  in  steps,  similar  to  a  stair,  upon  their  upper 
or  under  side.  The  first  is  styled  a  working  in  direct  or 
descending  steps;  the  second  a  working  in  reverse,  or 
ascending  steps.  By  this  method  a  number  of  miners  are 
able  to  proceed  simultaneously  without  interfering  with 
each  other. 

In  rich  lodes  and  in  the  case  of  thick  masses,  the  system 
of  working  in  large  chambers  or  extensive  excavations,  or 
by  transverse  attacks,  is  employed.  Superficial  deposits  are 
worked  like  open  quarries. 

In  British  practice,  coal  is  generally  worked  on  the  post 
(or  pillar  and  stall)  system,  or  on  the  long- wall  system. 

The  pillar  and  stall  principle  is  carried  out  in  the  working 


DIVISIONS   IN   COAL   MINES. 


2  55 


away  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  coal  as  a  first  measure,  and 
in  leaving  the  remainder  in  pillars,  which  are  either  to 
serve  permanently  for  the  support  of  the  roof,  or  to  be  at 
some  future  time  partially  or  totally  removed.  In  the 
North  of  England,  where  this  system  has  been  brought  to  per- 
fection, it  is  also  named  panel-work,  because  the  whole  area 
is  divided  into  quadrangular  panels,  each  panel  containing  an 
area  of  from  eight  to  twelve  acres,  and  round  each  panel  is 
at  first  left  a  solid  wall  of  coal  of  from  forty  to  fifty  yards 
thick.     Through  the  panel  walls  roads  and  air-courses  are 


PART  OF  A  COLLIERY  LAID   OUT  IN   FOUR   PANELS. 


A.  Engine  shaft :  divided  into  three  com- 
partments, an  engine  pit  and  two  coal 
pits. 

B,  C.  Dip  head  level. 

A,  E.  The  rise  or  crop  gallery. 

K,  K.  Panel  walls. 


F,  G.  Two  panels  completed  as  to  the  first 

work. 
D.  Panel,  with  the  rooms  a  a  in  regular 

progress  to  the  rise. 
H.  Panel  fully  worked  out. 


driven  in  order  to  work  the  coal  contained  within  these 
walls.  Thus  all  the  panels  are  connected  together  with  the 
shaft  as  to  roads  and  ventilation,  and  each  district  or  panel 
has  a  particular  name,  so  that  any  circumstance  relating  to 
the  details  of  the  colliery  can  be  readily  referred  to  a  speci- 
fied place. 

By  this  plan,  of  which   the    above   illustration    gives    a 


256  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

distinct  idea,  the  pillars  of  a  panel  may  be  worked  out  at 
any  time  most  suitable  for  the  economy  of  the  mine,  and  the 
loss  of  coal  amounts  to  no  more  than  about  a  tenth,  instead 
of  a  third  or  a  half  by  the  old  methods. 

When  the  pillars  of  a  panel  are  to  be  worked  out,  the 
most  distant  range  is  first  attacked,  and  as  the  workmen  cut 
away  the  furthest  pillars,  props  of  wood  are  placed  between 
the  pavement  and  the  roof,  within  a  few  feet  of  each  other, 
as  shown  by  the  dots  at  i.  This  is  continued  till  an  area  of 
one  hundred  square  yards  is  cleared  of  pillars.  This  operation 
is  termed  'working  the  goaf.9  The  only  use  of  the  prop-wood 
is  to  prevent  the  stratum  which  forms  the  ceiling  over  the 
workmen's  heads  from  falling  down  and  killing  them  by  its 
splintery  fragments.  Experience  has  proved  that  before 
proceeding  to  take  away  another  set  of  pillars,  it  is  necessary 
to  allow  the  last  made  goaf  to  fall.  The  workmen  then 
begin  to  draw  out  the  props.  This  is  a  most  hazardous 
employment.  Knocking  down  the  more  remote  props  one 
after  another,  they  quickly  retreat  under  the  protection  of 
the  remaining  props.  Meanwhile  the  roof  stratum  begins 
to  break  by  the  sides  of  the  pillars  and  falls  down  in  im- 
mense pieces ;  while  the  workmen  still  persevere,  boldly 
drawing  and  retreating  till  every  prop  is  removed.  Nay, 
should  any  props  be  so  firmly  fixed  by  the  top  pressure  that 
they  will  not  give  way  to  the  blows  of  heavy  mauls,  they  are 
cut  through  with  axes,  the  workmen  making  it  a  point  of 
honour  to  leave  not  a  single  prop  in  the  goaf.  If  any  props 
are  left,  it  causes  an  irregular  subsidence  of  the  strata,  and 
throws  more  pressure  on  the  adjacent  pillars.  The  miners 
next  proceed  to  cut  away  the  pillars  nearest  to  the  sides  of 
the  goaf,  setting  prop- wood,  then  drawing  it,  and  retreating 
as  before,  until  every  panel  is  removed  excepting  small  por- 
tions of  pillars  which  require  to  be  left  under  dangerous 
stones,  to  protect  the  retreat  of  the  workmen.  While  this 
operation  is  going  forward  and  the  goaf  extending,  the 
superincumbent  strata,  being  exposed  without  support  over  a 
larger  area,  break  progressively  higher  up  ;  and  when  strong 
beds  of  sandstone  are  thus  giving  way,  the  noise  of  the  rend- 
ing rocks  is  very  peculiar  and  terrific ;  at  one  time  loud  and 
sharp,  at  another  hollow   and  deep.     As  the  pillars  of  the 


LONG-WALL   WORKING    IN   MINES. 


257 


panels  are  taken  away,  the  panel  walls  are  also  worked 
progressively  backwards  to  the  pit-bottom,  so  that  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  coal  is  eventually  lost. 

When  mines  are  fully  worked,  the  main  shaft  is  fre- 
quently continued  down  to  other  seams  of  coal,  which  are 
excavated  in  the  same  way  as  the  first  seam.  In  such  cases 
the  workings  communicate  with  each  other  by  shafts  called 
'  staples,'  which  are  sunk  at  intervals  between  the  seams  of 
coal. 

The  principle  of  long- wall  working  (Shropshire  and  Derby- 
shire method)  is  the  extraction  of  all  the  available  coal  by 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  MIXING  OPERATIONS. 


the  single  process  of  first  working,  maintaining  the  roads 
by  means  of  stone-walls  or  wooden  props.  This  system  is 
applicable  with  advantage  only  to  thin  seams  which  lie  near 
to  the  surface,  and  in  which  the  workings  may  be  of  a  very 
limited  extent. 

According  to  the  various  hardness  of  the  minerals  or  of 
the  rocks  in  which  they  are  embedded,  different  means  and 
implements  for  dividing  the  masses  are  employed.  In  loose 
earth,  sand,  and  clay,  shovels  and  scrapers  suffice  ;  in  gyp- 
sum, coal,  and  rock-salt,   the  pick   becomes    necessary;    in 


258 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


many  hard  slates,  gads  must  be  driven  into  the  small  open- 
ings made  with  the  point  of  the  pick.  In  still  harder  stones, 
forming  the  great  majority  of  those  which  occur  in  veins 


u 

e 

f 

v» 

9 

___U_ 

fl 

h 

<2) 

i 

— _a 

a.  Pick.     b.  Gad. 


TOOLS  USED  BY  MIXERS  IX  CORXWALL. 

c.  Shovel,      d.  Mallet,     e.  Borer.     /.  Claying-bar. 
/*.  Scraper.        i.  Tamping- bar. 


h  Needle  or  nail. 


and  strata,  recourse  must  be  had  to  the  explosive  power  of 
gunpowder,  which  is  also  largely  employed  in  our  coal- 
mines. The  tools  used  for  this  purpose  are  the  borer,  an 
iron  bar  tipped  with  steel,  formed  like  a  thick  chisel,  which 
is  held  by  one  man  straight  in  the  hole  with  constant 
rotation  on  its  axis,  while  another  strikes  the  head  of  it  with 
the  iron  sledge  or  mallet ;  the  scraper  for  clearing  out  the 
hole  from  time  to  time  ;  the  claying-bar,  a  tapering  iron 
rod,  which,  after  the  introduction  of  some  tenacious  clay  into 
the  cavity,  is  forced  into  it  with  great  violence,  and,  con- 
densing the  clay  into  all  the  crevices  of  the  rock,  secures  the 
dryness  of  the  hole  ;  and  the  nail,  a  small  taper  rod  of 
copper,  which,  after  the  charge  has  been  introduced,  is 
inserted  to  reach  the  bottom  of  the  hole,  which  is  now  ready 
for  tamping.  For  this  purpose,  any  soft  species  of  rock 
free  from  flinty  particles,  which  might  provoke  a  premature 
explosion,  is  introduced  in  small  quantities  at  a  time,  and 
rammed  very  hard  by  the  tamping  bar,  which  is  held 
steadily  by  one  man  and  struck  with  a  sledge  by  another. 
The  hole  being  thus  filled,  the  nail  is  withdrawn  by  putting 
a  bar  through  its  eye  and  striking  it  upwards.  Thus  a  small 
perforation  or  vent  is  left  for  the  safety  fuse,  a  woven 
cylinder  containing  gunpowder,  and  protected  by  a  coating 


HEROISM    OF    MINERS.  259 

of  tar.      The  fire  being  applied,  the  men  retire  to   a  safe 
distance. 

Often,  in  order  to  lose  as  little  time  as  possible,  a  number 
of  shots  are  fired  together,  so  that  the  explosions,  pouring 
out  their  tongues  of  flame  in  rapid  succession,  and  awakening 
the  subterranean  echoes  far  and  wide,  afford  a  highly  in- 
teresting spectacle.  But  woe  to  the  miner  if  he  be  too  hasty 
to  return  to  his  post,  for  it  often  happens  that  a  treacherous 
shot  goes  off  several  minutes  after  being  lighted,  and,  ex- 
ploding in  the  face  of  the  imprudent  workman,  disfigures 
him  for  life,  or  kills  him  on  the  spot. 

Accidents  in  blasting  arise  also  from  other  causes,  such 
as  a  negligent  handling  of  the  powder  while  preparing 
the  charge,  or  some  delay  in  retiring  after  the  fuse  has 
been  kindled.  It  was  an  incident  of  the  latter  kind  which 
some  years  back  called  forth  the  following  instance  of 
heroism. 

'  In  a  certain  Cornish  mine,'  says  Thomas  Carlyle,* 
*  two  miners,  deep  down  in  the  shaft,  were  engaged 
in  putting  in  a  shot  for  blasting  ;  they  had  completed 
their  affair,  and  were  about  to  give  the  signal  for  being 
hoisted  up.  One  at  a  time  was  all  their  coadjutor  at  the 
top  could  manage,  and  the  second  was  to  kindle  the  match 
and  then  mount  with  all  speed.  Now  it  chanced,  while  they 
were  still  below,  one  of  them  thought  the  match  too  long, 
tried  to  break  it  shorter,  took  a  couple  of  stones,  a  flat  and 
a  sharp,  to  cut  it  shorter,  did  cut  it  off  the  due  length,  but, 
horrible  to  relate,  kindled  it  at  the  same  time,  and  both 
were  still  below.  Both  shouted  vehemently  to  the  coadjutor 
at  the  windlass,  both  sprang  at  the  basket ;  the  windlass-man 
could  not  move  it  with  them  both.  Here  was  a  moment  for 
poor  miner  Jack  and  miner  Will !  Instant  horrible  death 
hangs  over  both,  when  Will  generously  resigns  himself. 
"  Go  aloft,  Jack,  and  sit  down.  Away  !  In  one  minute  I 
shall  be  in  heaven  ! "  Jack  bounds  aloft,  the  explosion 
instantly  follows,  bruises  his  face  as  he  looks  over ;  he  is 
safe  above  ground;  and  poor  Will?  Descending  eagerly, 
they  find  poor  Will,  too,  as  if  by  miracle,  buried  under  rocks 
which  had  arched  themselves  over  him,  and  little  injured ; 

*  '  Life  of  Sterling,'  p.  278. 
s  2 


260  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

he  too  is  brought  up  safe;  and  all  ends  joyfully,  say  the 
newspapers,  which  have  duly  specified  the  event. 

'  Such  a  piece  of  manly  promptitude  and  salutary  human 
heroism  was  worth  investigating.  It  was  investigated  and 
found  to  be  accurate  to  the  letter,  with  this  addition  and 
explanation,  that  Will  Yerran,  an  honest,  ignorant,  good 
man,  entirely  given  up  to  Methodism,  had  been  perfect  in 
the  "  faith  of  assurance  ; "  certain  that  he  should  get  to 
heaven  if  he  died,  certain  that  Jack  Eoberts  would  not, 
which  had  been  the  ground  of  his  decision  in  that  great 
moment ;  for  the  rest  that  he  much  wished  to  learn  reading 
and  writing,  and  find  some  way  of  life  above  ground  instead 
of  below.  By  aid  of  the  Misses  Fox  and  the  rest  of  that 
family,  a  subscription  (modest  ^wii-Hudson  Testimonial) 
was  raised  for  this  Methodist  hero  ;  he  emerged  into  day- 
light with  fifty  pounds  in  his  pocket ;  did  strenuously  try,  for 
certain  months,  to  learn  reading  and  writing ;  found  he 
could  not  learn  those  arts,  or  either  of  them ;  took  his 
money  and  bought  cows  with  it,  wedding  at  the  same  time 
some  likely  milkmaid.' 

Several  attempts  have  recently  been  made  to  diminish  the 
dangers  of  blasting,  by  substituting  gun-cotton  or  nitro- 
glycerine for  gunpowder ;  or  by  firing  charges  by  means  of 
the  electric  battery,  but  hitherto  without  much  success. 

An  enormous  quantity  of  gunpowder  is  consumed  for  blast- 
ing in  many  of  the  larger  mines.  In  1836,  64,000  pounds  were 
used  in  the  Consolidated  Mines  in  Cornwall,  and  90,100 
pounds  in  the  Fowey  Consolidated  Copper  Mines.  The 
total  amount  of  gunpowder  consumed  in  the  Cornish  and 
Devonian  Mines  in  the  year  1837  reached  300  tons,  which 
cost  13,200Z.  This  one  item  may  serve  to  give  some  idea  of 
the  enormous  working  expenses  of  a  large  mining  concern. 

Sometimes  the  rock  is  so  tenacious  as  to  render  boring  too 
tedious  and  expensive  an  operation,  and  fire  becomes  neces- 
sary for  subduing  the  solidity  of  the  stone.  In  this  manner 
the  ancient  mine  of  Rammelsberg,  near  Groslar,  is  forced  to 
yield  its  treasures,  and  whole  forests  are  annually  consumed 
in  order  to  loosen  the  hornstone  and  indestructible  spar  of 
its  metalliferous  veins.  Every  Saturday  morning  the  fire  is 
applied  to  the  numerous  piles  of  billets  and  faggots  that  have 


MODES   OF    LOOSENING   STONES   IN   MINES.  261 

been  distributed  throughout  the  course  of  the  week.  Those 
in  the  upper  floors  of  exploitation  are  first  burned,  in  order 
that  the  inferior  piles  may  not  obstruct  by  their  vitiated  air 
the  combustion  of  the  former.  Thus  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  fires  are  kindled  in  the  upper  ranges,  and  then 
from  pile  to  pile  the  firemen  descend  towards  the  lower 
floor,  which  occupies  them  till  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
The  vaults  of  Rammelsberg  now  afford  a  truly  magnificent 
spectacle.  The  rising  flames,  flickering  against  the  walls  of 
the  vaults,  and  ascending  in  broad  sheets  towards  their  roof; 
the  dense  clouds  of  smoke  rolling  towards  the  air  vents ;  the 
crackling  of  the  wood  ;  the  loud  detonations  of  the  stones 
rent  by  the  expansive  force  of  heat  from  the  primitive  rock  ; 
the  lurid  glare  of  the  conflagration ;  the  naked  workmen 
with  their  mighty  stirring-poles,  flitting  like  dark  spirits 
before  the  blazing  pile  ;  the  intense  heat,  and  the  air  loaded 
to  suffocation  with  sulphurous  fumes, — all  combine  to  produce 
a  picture  worthy  of  Dante's  '  Inferno.'  During  the  Sunday 
the  noxious  vapours  engendered  by  the  conflagration  have 
time  to  disperse ;  and  on  the  Monday  morning  the  work- 
men detach,  with  long  forks  of  iron,  the  ores  that  have  been 
loosened  by  the  flames. 

The  ore  being  extracted  from  its  bed,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  bring  it  to  the  light  of  day,  an  operation  which  is  of  course 
of  the  greatest  importance,  and  not  seldom  requires  the  aid  of 
complicated  machinery,  particularly  in  coal  mines,  where  large 
masses  have  to  be  conveyed  as  economically  and  speedily  as 
possible  to  the  upper  world. 

A  great  improvement  has  been  effected  of  late  years  in  the 
facility  of  transporting  minerals  underground,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  small  tramroads,  and  the  saving  of  expense  thus 
effected  sometimes  amounts  to  one-half  the  former  cost. 
Many  of  our  larger  mines  are  provided  with  miles  of  this 
subterranean  railroad,  and  the  advantage  is  greater,  because 
for  the  most  part  there  is  a  slight  descent  from  the  workings 
to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  to  allow  of  a  more  complete 
system  of  drainage  than  could  otherwise  be  attained.  But 
frequently  where  the  galleries  are  low,  narrow,  and  crooked, 
the  carriage  is  still  effected  by  means  of  sledges,  barrows,  or 
little  waggons,  which  are   with  difficulty  dragged  or  pushed 


262 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


along,  over  planks  or  uneven  and  muddy  roads  ;  and  some- 
times even  the  interior  transport  of  the  ore  is  executed  on 
the  backs  of  men — a  most  disadvantageous  practice,  which 
is  gradually  wearing  out. 

In  great  mines,  such  as  the  coal  and  salt  mines  of  Great 
Britain,  the  salt  mines  of  Wielitzka,  the  copper  mines  of 
Fahlun,  the  lead  mines  of  Alston  Moor,  horses  have  long 
been  introduced  into  the  workings,  to  drag  heavier  wag- 
gons, or  a  train  of  waggons  attached  to  one  another.  In 
some  cases  these  animals  are  brought  to  the  surface  at  stated 


CONVEYANCE  OP  MINERALS  tNDEHGROUND. 


intervals,  but  generally  when  once  let  down  the  pit  they  for 
ever  bid  adieu  to  the  light  of  day.  Strange  to  say,  this  un- 
natural mode  of  existence,  which  would  soon  undermine  the 
vigour  and  spirits  of  man,  agrees  admirably  well  with  their 
health,  of  which  the  greatest  care  is  taken,  as  their  useful 
services  are  duly  appreciated  by  their  owners.  They  are 
abundantly  fed  with  hay  and  oats  of  the  best  quality  ;  their 
stalls  are  large  and  well  ventilated ;  and  as  they  labour  in  a 
mild  and  equable  temperature,  they  remain  free  from  many 
complaints  to  which  horses  are  liable.     Their  good  condition 


MODES    OF    DESCENDING    MINES.  203 

and  sleek,  shining  coats  prove  that  they  have  no  sentimental 
longing  for  green  fields  or  the  bright  sunshine.  In  a  few  of 
the  largest  collieries  it  has  been  found  advantageous  to  esta- 
blish underground  stationary  engines,  which  bring  the  trains 
of  waggons,  by  means  of  an  endless  rope,  along  the  galleries 
to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft.  In  other  mines,  such  as  those  of 
Worsley  in  Lancashire,  subterranean  canals  are  cut,  upon 
which  the  mineral  is  transported  in  boats. 

In  the  European  mines,  the  ores  are  usually  lifted  from  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft  to  the  surface  by  steam-power,  or  horse- 
gins  ;  but  in  Spanish  America,  men,  and  even  women,  are 
employed  for  this  purpose.  The  steep  ladders  which  they 
ascend  with  heavy  weights  upon  their  backs,  consist  merely 
of  the  thick  trunks  of  fir-trees,  into  which,  at  intervals  of 
every  ten  or  eleven  inches,  deep  notches  have  been  cut ; 
but  these  rude  steps  are  mounted  with  perfect  security  and 
ease  by  the  sure-footed  Indians. 

In  many  European  mines,  where  the  workmen  are  let  down 
or  raised  by  means  of  ropes,  wire  cables,  or  chains,  they  some- 
times sit  on  transverse  round  pieces  of  wood  or  in  a  kind  of 
chair,  consisting  of  two  strong  leather  belts,  one  of  which  serves 
as  a  seat,  and  the  other  for  supporting  the  back.  In  Wie- 
litzka  ten  of  these  chairs  are  attached  to  the  cable  at  distances 
of  seven  or  eight  feet  one  from  another.  The  persons  seated 
in  the  uppermost  and  lowest  chairs  direct  the  descent,  and 
take  great  care  to  prevent  the  conveyance  grazing  against 
the  sides  of  the  shaft,  for  were  it  to  be  hooked  fast  by  a  nail 
or  any  other  projection,  a  fall  into  a  deep  precipice  of  several 
hundred  feet  would  be  the  almost  inevitable  and  fatal  con- 
sequence. The  old  method  of  descending  into  a  colliery  was 
by  a  corf  or  strong  basket,  hooked  on  by  a  chain  to  the  rope 
that  hung  down  the  shaft.  Stepping  into  this,  the  men 
would  swing  down  the  dark  hollow,  gaily  and  readily,  but  not 
always  safely. 

Thus,  in  the  year  1835,  in  a  colliery  near  Liege,  seven 
workmen  were  already  seated  in  a  corf  that  was  about  to 
descend  into  the  shaft,  when  one  of  their  comrades,  anxious 
to  seize  the  opportunity,  came  hurrying  along,  and,  in  spite 
of  all  remonstrances,  jumped  into  it ;  but  the  rope,  unable  to 
bear  the  shock  and  the  increased  weight,  suddenly  snapped, 


264  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

and   all  eight  were  precipitated   into  the  abyss,  from  which 
not  one  of  them  came  forth  alive. 

In  the  Swedish  mines  small  barrels  or  tuns  are  generally 
used  as  vehicles  of  descent,  and  the  workmen  are  uncom- 
monly dexterous  in  preventing  their  little  aerial  skiff  from 
striking  against  the  rugged  rock-walls,  when  it  would  run 
the  danger  of  being  wrecked.  Women,  and  even  children, 
who  find  occupation  in  the  mines,  are  often  seen  standing  on 
the  narrow  edge  of  one  of  these  swinging,  turning,  or  oscilla- 
ting tuns,  with  an  arm  slung  round  the  rope ;  and  such  is  the 
power  of  habit  that  they  will  quietly  knit  where  even  a  stout- 
nerved  man  would  be  appalled  by  the  frowning  cliffs  above 
or  the  black  abyss  below. 

In  the  year  1785  a  girl,  descending  alone  into  the  pit  of 
Fahlun,  and  unable  to  direct  the  tun,  could  not  prevent  it 
from  striking  against  a  rock.  Jerked  out  of  her  conveyance 
by  the  violence  of  the  shock,  she  fell  upon  a  narrow  ledge, 
about  one  hundred  feet  from  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  to  which 
she  clung  with  all  the  energy  of  despair.  Her  position  was 
indeed  terrific,  for  the  least  motion  would  have  precipitated 
her  into  the  dark  grave  which  seemed  to  yawn  for  her  recep- 
tion, and  to  have  given  her  but  a  momentary  respite  in  order 
to  make  her  feel  more  bitterly  the  pangs  of  approaching 
death.  Already  her  strength  was  giving  way,  already  a 
cloud  swam  before  her  eyes,  when  some  bold  miners,  ventur- 
ing their  own  lives  in  the  hazardous  undertaking,  succeeded 
in  rescuing  her  from  her  awful  position,  and  snatching  her 
as  it  were  from  the  very  jaws  of  death. 

Another  method  much  adopted,  and  preferred  by  the  pit- 
men in  our  collieries,  w7as  passing  down  and  up  in  the  loop. 
The  pitman  inserted  one  leg  into  a  loop  formed  by  curving 
the  terminal  chain  and  hooking  it  back  upon  an  upper  link, 
and  then  twined  his  arm  tightly  round  the  rope  above.  In 
this  way  he  descended  through  any  depth,  and,  as  he  alleged, 
with  greater  safety  than  in  a  bucket,  out  of  which  he  might 
be  ejected,  while  nothing  except  the  breaking  of  the  rope 
could  harm  him  in  loop. 

At  present  the  safety-cage  is  generally  used.  This  is 
simply  a  vertical  railway  carriage  running  down  and  up  upon 
guides,  and  thereby  introducing  into  the  shaft  the  improve- 


LABOUR   OF   ASCENDING   MINES. 


265 


ments  of  the  iron  road.  Into  one  of  its  square  narrow  com- 
partments two  or  three  men  crouch  together,  others  get  into 
an  upper  compartment,  and  down  the  cage  moves  easily  and 
safely,  the  men  needing  only  to  take  care  that  hands  or 
fingers  do  not  hang  beyond  the  edge,  while  four  or  five 
minutes  of  easy  motion  carry  them  down  a  thousand  or 
fifteen  hundred  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth. 


i;'^^iissi 
1 1 


MIXERS   DESCENDING   SHAFT   IN   OWEN  8    S A!  K'l'Y   CAGE. 


In  many  mines  the  workmen  climb  up  and  down  the  shafts 
on  fixed  ladders,  with  landing-stages  for  resting ;  and  it  may 
easily  be  imagined  how  severely  their  strength  must  be  taxed 
when,  after  their  hard  day's  labour,  they  have  still  to  ascend 
step  by  step  a  thousand  or  even  two  thousand  feet,  before 
they  can  return  to  their  families.  Some  of  the  Cornish  mines 
require  a  full  hour  to  rise  from  the  lowest  depths  to  '  grass,' 
and  besides  this  considerable  loss  of  time,  diseases  of  the 
lungs    and   heart,  which   often   terminate   fatally,    or   pre- 


266  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

maturely  make  the  miner  an  invalid,  are  the  consequence  of 
these  fatiguing  journeys. 

6  0  thou  grumbling  clerk  in  London  city,'  exclaims  the 
author  of  'Cornwall  and  its  Mines,'*  'whose  daily  fatigues  only 
extend  to  the  ascent  into  and  descent  from  the  trim  omnibus 
that  takes  you  to  or  from  Peckham  or  Kennington  !  Only 
think  for  a  moment  of  travelling  some  four  or  five  times  the 
height  of  St.  Paul's  daily — before  and  after  work  !  0  thou 
querulous  socialist,  demagogue,  or  artisan,  who  canst  sit 
in  a  comfortable  coffee-house,  under  a  flaming  gas-light, 
immediately  before  and  after  work — or  in  your  own  snug 
parlour,  by  your  own  fireside  or  murmuring  kettle — do  but 
think  for  a  moment  of  the  Cornish  miner,  and  what  he  must 
do  before  he  can  reach  home  or  house  !  I  fully  believe  that 
the  best  cure  for  discontent  and  gloom  in  fortunate  workmen 
would  be  to  put  them  upon  the  treadmill  of  a  deep  Cornish 
mine — for  a  temporary  treadmill  it  is.' 

Tt  had  long  been  deemed  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
devise  some  easier  mode  of  locomotion ;  but  it  was  not  till 
1833  that  the  circumstance  of  two  water-wheels  having  been 
thrown  out  of  work  by  the  opening  of  the  deep  Georg  Adit  in 
the  Hartz  mines  suggested  the  idea  of  employing  the  pump- 
rods  for  aiding  the  ascent  of  the  miners.  The  trial  was  first 
made  with  a  portion  of  one  hundred  fathoms.  This  was 
divided  into  twenty-two  portions ;  and  on  each  portion  iron 
steps  were  fixed,  at  intervals  of  four  feet,  while  hand-holds 
were  fixed  at  convenient  distances.  A  reciprocating  motion 
of  four  feet  was  given  to  each  rod,  and  the  miners  stepped 
to  and  fro  from  a  bracket  or  ledge  on  one  rod  to  the 
parallel  one  on  the  other.  As  one  rod  is  always  descending 
while  the  other  is  ascending,  and  vice  versa,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  how  this  alternate  stepping  on  to  the  little  plat- 
forms must  lead  to  the  ascent  or  descent  of  the  miner.  At 
the  division  between  each  two  of  the  twenty-two  portions, 
there  is  a  larger  platform  on  which  he  may  rest  awhile  ;  and 
nothing  is  lost  by  his  rest,  for  the  reciprocal  motion  goes  on, 
and  is  ready  again  for  his  use  when  he  is  ready  for  it.  This 
first  machine  surpassed  expectation.  Short  as  the  length  of 
ascent  was,  many  invalids  of  the  district  were  now  able  to 

*  London:  Longmans,  1857. 


MAX-ENGINES    IN    MINES.  267 

resume  their  underground  labours,  as  the  fatigue  of  mounting 
or  descending  was  reduced,  by  the  alternate  action  of  the 
machinery,  to  a  mere  easy  lateral  motion. 

The  advantages  of  this  new  method  in  saving  both  time 
and  power  were  so  obvious  that  it  was  soon  imitated  in  the 
other  deep  metalliferous  veins  of  the  Hartz ;  and  at  present 
power-ladders  or  man-engines  of  an  improved  construction, 
such  as  the  substitution  of  a  single  rod  for  the  double 
apparatus  above  described,  are  in  very  general  use  over  the 
Continent,  whence  they  have  passed  in  a  modified  form 
into  Cornwall,  where  they  are  worked  by  steam.  In  Fowey 
Consols  Mine  the  machine  extends  to  a  depth  of  1,680  feet. 
The  rod  is  eight  inches  square,  with  twelve-inch  platforms  at 
intervals  of  twelve  feet ;  and  there  are  stationary  platforms 
equidistant  at  the  side  of  the  shaft.  When  a  miner  is  about 
to  descend  the  steps  on  a  movable  platform,  the  rod  descends 
and  carries  him  down  twelve  feet;  he  steps  upon  a  fixed 
platform  while  the  rod  rises  again;  he  then  steps  upon 
another  movable  platform,  and  descends  another  twelve  feet, 
and  so  on  to  the  bottom.  In  ascending,  there  is  simply  a 
reversed  process.  It  is  a  very  interesting  sight  to  witness 
the  ascent  or  descent  of  bodies  of  miners  at  certain  hours  of 
the  day  and  night.  You  see  them  passing  each  other  in  the 
shafts,  in  a  kind  of  zig-zag  course,  of  as  great  regularity  as 
any  zig-zag  will  permit.  As  one  miner  steps  off  the  rod  plat- 
form to  one  fixed  platform,  another  steps  on  to  it  from 
another  fixed  platform  on  the  other  side.  Thus  there  are  two 
streams  of  miners  moving  in  opposite  directions  along  the 
same  rod  at  the  same  time,  and  this  curious  spectacle  is  ren- 
dered doubly  pleasing  when  we  consider  how  much  distressing 
toil  has  been  alleviated  by  the  employment  of  the  man- 
engine.  Machinery  constructed  on  the  same  principle  has 
been  latterly  adopted  in  the  mines  of  Anzin,  for  transporting 
the  coal  step  by  step  to  the  surface ;  and  it  is  evident  that 
when  coal  mines  are  worked  at  greater  depths  than  at  pre- 
sent, ropes,  however  strong,  will  no  longer  be  able  to  sustain 
even  their  own  weight,  and  the  whole  transport  up  and  down 
a  shaft  of  perhaps  3,000  or  3,500  feet  must  be  performed  by 
means  of  similar  machines. 

Wherever  the  excavated  rock  is  not  hard  or  solid  enough 


2G8  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

to  bear  the  superincumbent  weight,  the  galleries  of  a  mine 
must  necessarily  be  supported  by  timbering  or  walling. 
Timbering  is  most  used,  frequently  in  the  form  represented 
in  the  annexed  woodcut ;  and  when  we  consider  how  miles 

upon  miles  of  galleries  are  thus  sup- 
ported, we  can  easily  imagine  that 
whole  forests  must  be  engulfed  in  our 
mines.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
for  the  total  quantity  of  timber  in  use 
for  mining  purposes  in  Cornwall,  it 
would  require  no  less  than  140  square 
miles  of  forest  of  Norwegian  pine, 
averaging  a  growth  of  120  years. 
timbehing  ov  a  mine.  rpj^  expense  thus  incurred  is  enor- 

mous ;  the  cost  for  timber,  duty  free,  in  Cornish  and  Devon 
mines,  amounted  in  1836  to  94,1 38Z.  and  is  probably  still 
larger  at  the  present  time.  For  timbering,  no  tree  is  more 
esteemed  than  the  larch  or  the  Norwegian  pine,  on  account 
of  its  great  durability  in  the  wet ;  but  whatever  wood  may 
be  employed,  it  is  necessary  to  peel  off  the  bark,  experience 
having  shown  that  unless  this  is  done  the  wood  rots  much 
more  easily,  as  the  fibres  of  the  rind  attract  a  far  greater 
quantity  of  moisture  than  the  smooth  surface  of  the  splint. 
Like  the  potato  and  the  grape,  subterranean  timbering 
is  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  a  fungus,  producing  what  is 
called  dry-rot.  The  parasite  germinates  in  the  sap  which 
remains  in  the  wood,  or  at  least  derives  its  nourishment 
from  it.  Its  vegetation  is  at  first  scarcely  perceptible ;  but 
soon  its  white  fibres  multiply,  and  form  at  length  small 
sponges  on  the  surface.  The  decomposition  of  the  wood  now 
advances  writh  rapid  strides,  and  terminates  at  last  in  the 
total  destruction  of  the  ligneous  fibres.  Not  satisfied  with 
depriving  the  roof  of  its  support,  the  dry-rot  likewise  pro- 
duces a  vitiation  of  the  air,  so  that  wherever  timbering  is 
employed,  it  is  reckoned  among  the  great  enemies  of  the  mine 
and  of  the  miner.  Many  remedies  have  been  recommended, 
among  which  Jcyanizing,  or  saturating  the  wood  with  a  solu- 
tion of  corrosive  sublimate,  is  one  of  the  most  efficacious, 
though  unfortunately  too  expensive  to  be  of  universal  use. 
Mushrooms  of  various  kinds  likewise  flourish  upon  the  moist 


TIMBERING    OF   MINES. 


2G9 


surface  of  the  spars,  and  various  insects  collect  near  this 
parasitic  vegetation. 

The  timbering  of  a  mine  also  affords  very  convenient  lurk- 
ing-places to  the  numerous  rats  which  are  met  with  under- 
ground, where  they  contrive  to  live  upon  the  crumbs  or  oifal 
of  the  miners'  meals,  or  upon  candle-ends  and  remains  of 
wicks.  Not  seldom  the  timbering  of  a  gallery,  weakened  by 
rot,  gives  way  under  the  pressure  of  the  roof,  which  falls  in 
with  a  tremendous  crash,  and  sometimes  buries  the  unfortu- 
nate miner  under  its  ruins.  Another  disadvantage  attending 
timbering  is  its  liability  to  catch  fire,  and  thus,  wherever  the 
cost  is  not  found  too  great,  the  chief  galleries  of  a  mine  are 
now  usually  constructed  of  stone. 
Sometimes  the  two  sides  of  a 
gallery  are  lined  with  vertical 
walls,  and  its  roof  is  supported 
by  an  ogival  vault  or  an  arch. 
If  the  sides  of  the  mine  are 
solid,  a  simple  arch  is  sufficient 
to  sustain  the  roof;  and  at  other 
times  the  whole  surface  of  a  gallery  is  formed  of  a  single 
elliptic  vault,  the  great  axis  of  which  is  vertical,  and  the 
bottom  is  surmounted  by  a  wooden  plank,  under  which  the 
waters  run  off. 

The  miner  is  generally  in  a  state  of  perpetual  warfare  with 


•{mm 

TRANSVERSE  SECTION'S  OF  WALLED   DRAIN 
GALLERIES. 


DRAINAGE  OF  A  JUNE  BY  ADIT  LEVELS. 

a.  Shaft,     b.  Shallow  adit.     c.  Deep  adit.    d.  Mineral  lode. 

the  water,  which  threatens  to  inundate  the  scene  of  his 
labours  ;  and  as  in  a  leaky  ship  the  pumps  must  be  kept  con- 
tinually working  to  prevent  the  vessel  from  sinking,  so  here 
also  perpetual  efforts  are  necessary  to  keep  off  the  encroach- 


270  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

ments  of  this  never-tiring  foe.  When  a  mine  is  situated 
above  the  level  of  a  valley  or  of  the  neighbouring  sea,  its 
drainage  may  be  effected  in  a  comparatively  easy  manner  by 
means  of  sloping  galleries,  dry-levels  or  adits,  which  in  many 
cases  serve  also  for  the  transport  of  the  ore  or  coal.  In 
some  mines  these  drainage  levels  are  executed  on  a  truly 
gigantic  scale.  Thus  the  Great  Cornish  Adit,  which  extends 
through  the  large  mining  district  of  Gwennap,  begins  in  the 
valley  above  Carnon,  and  receives  the  branch  adits  of  fifty 
mines  in  the  parish  of  Gwennap,  forming  excavations  and 
ramifications  which  have  an  aggregate  extent  of  between 
thirty  and  forty  miles,  and  which  are  in  some  places  400  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  longest  branch  is  from 
Cardrew  mine,  and  is  five  and  a  half  miles  in  length.  This 
great  adit  opens  into  the  sea  at  Restronget  Creek,  and 
empties  its  waters  into  Falmouth  Harbour. 

A  similar  great  drain  is  Kent  Force  Level,  in  the  north  of 
England,  which  drains  the  numerous  mines  in  Alston  Moor. 
It  consists  of  a  stupendous  aqueduct  nine  feet  broad,  and  in 
some  places  from  sixteen  to  twenty  feet  high.  For  more 
than  three  miles  it  passes  under  the  course  of  the  river  Nent, 
to  Nentsbury  engine-shaft,  and  is  navigated  underground  by 
long  narrow  boats.  At  the  distance  of  a  mile  in  the  interior, 
daylight  is  seen  at  its  mouth  like  a  star,  and  this  star  is  con- 
tinually enlarging  upon  you  until  you  find  yourself  in  open 
daylight.  The  ramifications  of  the  Great  Adit  Levels  of  the 
mines  of  Freiberg  in  Saxony  have  a  total  length  of  seventy- 
two  miles  ;  but  the  most  stupendous  works  of  this  description 
are  those  in  the  district  of  Clausthal  and  Zellerfeld,  in  the 
Hartz,  where,  as  the  mining  operations  have  been  carried  on 
deeper  and  deeper,  adits  have  been  successively  driven  below 
adits.  Four  of  these  levels  date  from  times  previous  to  the 
seventeenth  century;  but,  as  they  were  found  insufficient, 
the  famous  Georg  Stollen  was  added  to  their  number  in 
1777.  This  gigantic  tunnel,  which,  piercing  the  hard  rock, 
required  twenty-three  years  for  its  completion,  is  above  five 
miles  long,  and  passes  900  feet  below  the  church  of  Clausthal. 
It  serves  the  double  purpose  of  a  draining  gallery  and  of  a 
navigable  canal.  The  water  is  always  kept  at  a  height  of 
from  fifty  to  sixty  inches ;  and  the  boats,  which  carry  about 


DRAINAGE    OF    MINES.  '271 

five  tons,  are  propelled  by  means  of  a  chain  attached  to  the 
vault,  along  which  the  boatmen  drag  or  push  them  for- 
ward. In  this  economical  manner  about  20,000  tons  of  ore 
are  annually  brought  to  daylight.  The  boats  are  made  and 
repaired  in  a  subterranean  wharf,  which,  though  far  from 
being  one  of  the  largest,  may  probably  boast  of  being  the 
deepest. 

Until  1851  the  Georg  Stollen  answered  all  the  purposes 
for  which  it  was  constructed,  but  at  the  end  of  that  period 
the  increased  depth  and  extension  of  the  mines  rendered 
necessary  the  addition  of  a  new  great  adit  level,  which  has 
been  named  the  '  Ernst  August  Stollen,'  in  honour  of  the  late 
king  of  Hanover.  In  spite  of  its  vast  dimensions,  this 
magnificent  work,  which  is  six  and  three-quarter  miles  long, 
about  ten  feet  high,  and  six  and  a  half  broad,  required  only 
thirteen  years  for  its  completion,  and  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  triumphs  of  moder^  engineering.  The 
excavation  was  begun  simultaneously  at  ten  different  points, 
and  such  was  the  admirable  precision  of  the  plans  that  all 
the  junctions  of  the  different  sections  of  the  gallery  fitted 
accurately  into  each  other. 

Below  the  Ernst  August  Gallery  (437  yards),  the  form  of 
the  country  allows  no  deeper  adit  level  to  be  driven  ;  but  to 
provide  for  the  increasing  vertical  extension  of  the  workings, 
a  new  underground  gallery,  without  any  opening  to  the  sur- 
face, and  at  a  depth  of  262  yards  below  the  former,  is  already 
in  contemplation.  The  water  is  to  be  raised  to  the  Ernst 
August  Level  by  a  special  hydraulic  machine  placed  in  a 
vertical  shaft,  which  will  serve  at  the  same  time  for  raising 
the  ore  and  for  the  passage  of  the  miners.  The  expense  is 
calculated  at  about  60,000Z.  but  will  be  amply  repaid  by  the 
new  field  of  mineral  wealth  which  it  will  open.  Thus  in  the 
Hartz  one  magnificent  work  is  but  the  precursor  of  another. 

"When  a  mine  is  so  situated  that  drainage  galleries  cannot 
be  established,  engines  must  be  employed  for  pumping  up  the 
waters.  Thus,  in  Cornwall,  where  most  of  the  copper  mines 
open  almost  at  the  sea  level,  an  enormous  influx  of  water  can 
be  kept  in  check  only  by  an  equally  enormous  steam-power. 
In  the  United  and  Consolidated  Mines  between  Truro  and  Eed- 
ruth,  seven  steam-pumps,  working  with  the  united  strength 


272  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

of  2,000  horses,  are  kept  constantly  in  motion,  and  raise 
above  2,500,000  gallons  of  water  in  twenty-four  hours. 

In  1837  the  whole  quantity  of  water  pumped  out  of  the 
earth  by  sixty  Cornish  engines  attained  the  amazing  aggre- 
gate of  close  upon  thirty-seven  millions  of  tons ;  but  since 
then  mining  has  been  carried  on  more  extensively  and  deeper, 
and  consequently  additional  steam-power  has  become  neces- 
sary to  keep  pace  with  the  increasing  waters. 

6  Even  to  the  eye  of  an  observer  who  is  practised  in 
machinery  *  of  great  magnitude,  the  first  sight  and  the  sub- 
sequent examination  of  such  engines  is  very  gratifying.  To 
watch  the  labour  of  a  giant  would  be  interesting  ;  but  to  see 
the  giant  not  only  labouring  at  ease  amidst  his  enormous 
work  but  at  the  same  time  at  the  command  of  a  child,  who 
should  be  able  to  stop  him  at  any  moment — this  would  be 
doubly  interesting.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  great  Cornish 
engines,  for  even  the  largest  of  them  may  be  stopped  by  a 
child  of  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age.  Another  peculiar  feature, 
too,  of  these  engines  is  this,  that  they  work  with  a  quietness 
— or  absence  of  clash  and  clatter — which  is  in  the  inverse 
ratio  of  their  magnitude.  The  water  makes  a  great  rush  in 
the  pumps,  but  the  engine  itself  is  calm  and  comparatively 
noiseless — like  a  great  mountain  reposing  in  calm  greatness 
while  a  perpetual  spring  brawls  at  its  feet.' 

In  the  coal-fields  of  the  North  equally  gigantic  efforts 
must  be  made  to  keep  down  the  water. 

In  sinking  to  the  coal  at  Dalton-le-Dale,  eight  or  nine 
miles  from  Durham,  the  borers  penetrated  the  vast  bed  of 
sand  beneath  the  magnesian  limestone,  which  appears  to 
contain  the  chief  subterranean  water-stores  of  the  district. 
In  this  case  their  outburst  was  truly  terrific,  amounting,  on 
June  1,  1840,  to  the  enormous  quantity  of  3,285  gallons  every 
minute.  To  oppose  this  formidable  enemy  the  spirited  pro- 
prietors of  the  mine  at  once  proceeded  to  erect  the  necessary 
steam-power  for  pumping  off  3,000  or  4,000  gallons  a 
minute ;  but,  the  waters  still  increasing,  it  became  necessary 
to  meet  them  with  a  double  and  treble  force,  so  that  finally 
the   floods  had   to  be  kept   down   by    steam  engines   of  an 

*  '  Cornwall,  its  Mines  and  Miners.' 


INUNDATION    OF    MINES.  273 

aggregate   power  equivalent    to   1,584   horses    and   setting 
twenty-seven  sets  of  pumps  in  motion. 

Sometimes  the  influx  of  water  into  a  coal  mine  is  so  enor- 
mous that  no  human  contrivance  can  oppose  it,  and  man  is 
obliged  to  give  up  the  conflict  in  despair.  During  the  progress 
of  the  attempted  winning  of  a  pit  at  Haswell  in  the  county 
of  Durham,  the  engine  power  erected  pumped  out  the  water 
to  the  amount  of  26,700  tons  per  day;  but  still  the  floods 
came  in,  and  at  last  won  the  victory. 

From  the  same  cause  many  collieries  have  been  closed,  of 
late  years,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne,  and  among  these  the 
famous  Wallsend  Colliery,  which  has  given  its  name  to  the 
best  kinds  of  coal. 

The  drowning  of  a  coal  mine  not  seldom  occurs  from  the 
irruption  of  water  accumulated  in  old  wastes  or  ancient 
workings  occupying  a  higher  level  in  the  vicinity.  The 
growing  pressure  of  such  a  body  of  water  upon  the  beds  or 
barriers  below  becomes  enormous  ;  and  then  the  water,  testing 
every  weak  point  of  the  body  opposed  to  its  escape,  at  length 
unexpectedly  rushes  into  the  space  which  it  finds  open  before 
it.  All  the  works  below  are  completely  filled,  and  the  mines  are 
for  a  time  rendered  useless,  or,  it  may  be,  for  ever  abandoned. 
This  was  the  cause,  in  1815,  of  the  celebrated  accident  at 
Heaton,  near  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  in  which  ninety  lives  were 
lost.  The  water  flowed  from  two  adjoining  old  collieries 
which  had  been  abandoned  seventy  years  before.  A  barrier 
of  six  feet  withstood  a  pressure  of  thirty  fathoms  of  water. 
But  an  irruption  was  aided  at  last  by  a  natural  fissure  of  the 
rock,  and  the  catastrophe  followed  before  any  adequate  pro- 
tection could  be  interposed. 

About  thirty  years  later  a  tremendous  calamity  of  the  like 
kind,  after  an  outlay  of  100,000L,  totally  ruined  the  Baghilt 
coal  mines,  in  Wales.  The  water  came  from  adjoining  mines, 
which  had  been  long  abandoned. 

If  correct  plans  and  descriptions  of  all  the  ancient  workings 
had  been  preserved,  these  accidents,  which  happen  frequently, 
might  easily  be  prevented,  as  an  exact  knowledge  of  the 
localities  would  enable  the  owners  to  leave  sufficiently  strong 
barriers  in  parts  where  they  are  now  often  most  inadequate. 
Such   is   the   importance  of  accurate    mining   records  that 

T 


274  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

thousands  of  pounds  would  be  freely  given  at  this  moment 
by  many  owners  for  a  knowledge  of  old  works  of  which  no 
plan  exists  and  which  no  memory  can  now  recall.  For- 
tunately, the  legislature  has  now  taken  steps  to  introduce  a 
system  of  registration  such  as  has  already  existed  long  ago 
in.  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Belgium,  and  which,  at  least,  will 
answer  the  purpose  of  obtaining  greater  security  for  the 
future. 

Sometimes  an  enormous  fall  of  rain,  descending  on  the 
neighbouring  country,  finds  its  way  into  the  mines  through 
fissures  in  the  ground  or  by  breaking  through  galleries,  and 
causes  irreparable  mischief;  sometimes  even  a  whole  river 
bursts  into  the  works  and  ruins  them  for  ever.  Thus,  in 
1856,  the  South  Tamar  Consols,  in  Devonshire,  was  flooded 
by  th«  giving  wTay  of  the  bed  of  the  Tamar,  under  which 
the  workings  were  carried. 

Even  the  Sea  has  been  known  to  take  fatal  vengeance  for 
the  undermining  of  her  domain. 

Workington  Colliery  extended  to  the  distance  of  1,500 
yards  under  the  Irish  Channel,  and  the  workings,  being  driven- 
considerably  to  the  rise,  were  brought  at  length  within  fifteen 
fathoms  of  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  pillars  of  coal  which 
supported  the  overlying  strata  were  hardly  strong  enough  to 
support  the  roof,  but  the  imprudence  of  a  manager  eager  to 
produce  a  larger  quantity  of  coal  weakened  even  this  insuffi- 
cient support  by  working  it  partly  away.  Heavy  falls  of  the 
roof,  accompanied  by  discharges  of  salt  water,  gave  repeated 
warnings  of  the  impending  catastrophe,  which  took  place 
on  July  30,  1837.  So  violent  was  the  irruption  that  many 
persons  at  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  yards  observed  the 
whirlpool  commotion  of  the  sea  as  it  rushed  into  the  gulf 
beneath.  Some  few  workmen  near  the  shaft  had  time  to 
escape,  but  thirty-six  men  and  boys  and  as  many  horses  were 
destroyed  by  the  waters,  which  in  a  few  hours  entirely  filled 
the  excavations,  the  extension  of  which  had  tasked  the 
labour  of  years. 

The  heroic  devotion  of  a  miner  has  invested  with  a  more 
than  ordinary  interest  the  inundation  of  the  mine  of  Beau- 
jonc,  near  Liege,  which  took  place  on  February  28,  1812. 
One  hundred  and  twenty-seven  persons  were  in  the  pit  when 


INUNDATION   OF   THE    BEAUJONC    MINE.  275 

the  waters  burst  in  from  some  old  workings.  Thirty-five  had 
time  to  make  their  escape  through  the  shaft ;  twenty-two 
were  drowned  in  their  eagerness  to  reach  it ;  the  majority, 
severed  from  the  upper  world  by  an  impassable  gulf,  remained 
behind.  Hubert  Goffin,  the  overman,  could  have  ascended 
in  the  tub ;  but,  though  the  father  of  six  children,  his  sense  of 
duty  would  not  allow  him  to  desert  his  post,  and  he  resolved 
to  save  all  his  men  or  to  perish  with  them.  As  the  rising 
waters  forced  the  prisoners  to  seek  a  higher  level,  the  boys 
burst  out  weeping  and  the  boldest  began  to  despair;  but 
Goffin  revived  their  courage  by  reminding  them  that  their 
friends  without  would  make  every  effort  to  save  them.  As 
one  day  after  another  passed,  the  prisoners  suffered  all  the 
horrors  of  hunger,  which  some  of  them  endeavoured  to  ap- 
pease by  devouring  the  candles  they  had  brought  with  them. 
Others  went  to  the  water  in  the  hopes  of  finding  the  body  of 
some  drowned  comrade.  Two  of  the  pitmen  quarrelled,  and 
were  on  the  point  of  coming  to  blows.  '  Let  them  fight,'  said 
the  others ;  '  if  one  of  them  is  killed  we  will  eat  him  ' — a  de- 
claration which  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  dispute.  To  satisfy 
their  thirst  they  had  nothing  but  the  foul  water  of  the  pit. 
Some  made  vows  to  all  the  saints,  others  complained  in  their 
delirium  that  they  had  to  wait  for  their  meals.  In  the  midst 
of  these  scenes  of  horror,  Goffin  alone  retained  his  courage, 
and,  exhorting,  consoling,  encouraging,  and  reproving  on  all 
sides,  appeared  as  the  guardian  angel  of  his  despairing  com- 
rades. 

Meanwhile  every  effort  was  being  made  from  without  to 
bring  them  succour.  Although  as  soon  as  the  accident  took 
place  the  pumps  were  incessantly  at  work,  the  water  had 
risen  to  a  height  of  14  metres  in  the  shaft  on  the  following 
morning,  and  as  it  was  still  rising  there  was  reason  to  fear 
that  the  captives,  blocked  up  in  a  constantly  narrowing 
space,  would  soon  be  suffocated.  It  was  resolved  to  strike  a 
gallery  from  the  neighbouring  pit  of  Mamouster  to  Beau- 
jonc,  a  distance  of  175  metres.  Unfortunately,  only  two 
men  could  hew  at  a  time,  but  such  was  the  ardour  with 
which  the  work  was  prosecuted  that  on  the  morning  of 
March  4  a  shout  of  triumph  announced  that  the  longed-for 
communication  was  effected,   and   that  the  prisoners  were 

T   2 


276  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

alive.  Crawling  through  the  narrow  passage,  they  were 
wrapped  up  in  woollen  blankets  and  strengthened  with  soup 
and  wine  before  being  hoisted  to  the  surface.  Gofnn  and  his 
son,  a  lad  of  twelve,  were  the  last  to  leave  the  pit ;  as  a  brave 
sea  captain,  after  some  great  catastrophe,  never  thinks  of  his 
own  safety  till  he  has  satisfied  himself  of  that  of  his  men. 
With  the  exception  of  those  who  were  drowned  immediately 
after  the  accident  took  place,  all  were  saved.  The  joy  of  some 
families,  the  despair  of  others,  may  be  imagined  when  the 
final  count  was  made.  As  a  reward  for  Goffin's  admirable 
conduct,  he  was  decorated  with  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour  and  received  a  pension  of  600  francs.  Nine  years 
later  he  was  killed  by  an  explosion  of  fire-damp,  and  thus 
the  hostile  elements  with  which  he  had  so  long  waged  a  suc- 
cessful war  triumphed  over  him  at  last. 

The  sudden  irruption  of  an  immense  body  of  water  into  a 
mine  naturally  causes  a  compression  of  the  air  in  those 
galleries  which  are  cut  off  from  all  communication  with 
the  shaft.  This  pressure,  which  may  rise  to  three  or 
four  atmospheres — or,  in  other  words,  may  be  three  or 
four  times  greater  than  that  of  the  external  air — not  only 
produces  symptoms  of  suffocation  and  cerebral  conges- 
tion in  the  unfortunate  miners  who  are  exposed  to  it,  but, 
forcing  its  way  through  fissures  in  the  roof  or  violently  rup- 
turing it,  sometimes  produces  the  effect  of  an  explosion  of 
gunpowder,  throwing  the  earth  to  a  distance,  and  even  over- 
turning houses.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  accidents 
of  this  kind  on  record  occurred  in  1833,  in  an  extensive  Scotch 
colliery,  into  which  the  waters  of  the  river  Garnock  had  broken 
through  a  cavity  in  its  bed.  As  the  stream  poured  into  the 
mine  the  opening  gradually  enlarged,  until  at  length  the 
whole  body  of  the  river  plunged  into  the  excavations  beneath. 
The  river  was  affected  by  the  tides,  and  this  engulfment  took 
place  at  low  water ;  but  as  the  tide  rose  the  sea  entered  with 
prodigious  force,  until  the  whole  workings,  extending  for  many 
miles,  were  completely  filled.  No  sooner,  however,  had  this 
taken  place,  than  the  pressure  of  the  water  in  the  pits  became 
so  great  that  the  confined  air,  which  had  been  forced  back 
into  the  high  workings,  burst  through  the  surface  of  the  earth 
in  a  thousand  places,  and  many  acres  of  ground  were  seen  to 


EVOLUTION    OF   FOUL   GASES    IN   MINES.  277 

bubble  up  like  the  boiling  of  a  cauldron.  Great  quantities  of 
sand  and  water  were  also  thrown  up,  like  showers  of  rain, 
during  a  period  of  five  hours,  and  an  extensive  tract  of  land 
was  laid  waste. 

Besides  the  danger  of  being  crushed  to  death  by  a  fall  of 
rock,  or  immured  in  a  living  tomb  by  an  obstruction  of  the 
shaft  or  an  irruption  of  water,  the  miner  has  another,  and  often 
still  more  formidable,  enemy  to  encounter  in  the  noxious  gases 
frequently  evolved  in  coal-pits.  Thus  in  all  well-regulated 
mines  the  greatest  attention  is  paid  to  ventilation,  so  that  no 
part  of  the  workings  may  be  left  without  a  proper  supply  of  air. 
In  ordinary  cases  the  natural  currents,  which  set  in  different 
directions  through  the  shafts  and  galleries,  may  sufficiently 
purify  the  atmosphere;  but  in  the  coal  mines  which  are 
peculiarly  subject  to  the  evolution  of  foul  gases,  artificial  or 
mechanical  means  must  be  resorted  to  for  driving  away  the 
hurtful  vapours  as  quickly  as  they  form.  To  establish  a  pro- 
per air  current,  the  usual  method  is  to  keep  a  large  fire  con- 
tinually burning  at  the  bottom  of  one  of  the  two  shafts  of 
the  pit,  or  of  one  of  the  two  compartments  of  the  single  shaft, 
and  the  difference  of  temperature  thus  caused  between  the 
column  of  air  of  the  upcast  shaft  and  the  downcast  becomes 
the  motive  power  which  impels  or  drags  the  air  current  in 
obedience  to  it.*  Yet  this  meets  but  half  the  difficulty ;  for 
the  air  current,  which  naturally  tends  to  the  shortest  passage, 
must  be  forced  to  do  its  duty  in  every  corner  of  the  pit,  and 
not  suffered  to  escape  through  the  upcast  shaft  before  it  has 
performed  the  longest  circuit.  For  this  purpose  a  great  num- 
ber of  mechanical  contrivances  are  adopted,  in  the  shape  of 
'  stoppings,'  of  brick,  or  wood,  or  stone,  all  so  placed  as  to  divert 

*  Mr.  Samuel  Plimsoll  ('Letters  on  the  Iron  Trade,'  Times,  February  10,  1868) 
informs  us  that  in  the  Belgian  coal  mines  the  ventilation  is  carried  on  in  a  more 
economical  and  effective  manner.  Here  no  furnaces  are  lighted  at  the  bottom  of 
the  upcast,  because  one-twentieth  of  the  coal  required  for  a  furnace  will  make  steam 
for  an  engine  to  work  fans  which  act  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  huge  paddle- 
wheels  in  steam-ships,  and  by  rapid  rotation  over  the  shaft  produce  a  draught 
which  the  incoming  air  rushes  to  meet,  and  thus  powerfully  promote  ventilation. 
These  fans  they  can  work  and  control,  and  are  therefore  independent  of  those 
atmospheric  influences  to  which  some  of  our  greatest  calamities  have  been  ascribed 
— the  damp,  heavy  atmosphere  of  early  winter.  In  the  great  colliery  of  Sacree 
Madame,  near  Charleroi,  one  of  these  fans  will  draw  34,000  cubic  metres  (about 
918,000  cubic  feet)  per  minute. 


278  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

and  drive  the  air  current  into  the  several  galleries  of  the  pit, 
and  to  make  it  perform  every  kind  of  complex  movement,  from 
turning  back  upon  its  own  right  or  left  to  turning  over  in  a 
somersault  upon  itself.  The  most  curious  and  admirably 
simple  contrivance  is  that  of  splitting  the  air  by  means  of  a 
wooden  erection,  which  meets  and  cuts  the  current  in  two,  and 
sends  one  part  on  the  one  hand  and  another  on  the  other  hand. 
In  fact,  what  is  commonly  practised  in  minutely  irrigating  a 
meadow  is  also  effected  in  thoroughly  airing  a  mine.  We 
may  form  some  idea  of  the  underground  travels  which  the 
air  is  thus  obliged  to  perform,  by  being  forced  along  from  split 
to  split,  when  we  hear  that  at  Hetton  Colliery  the  ventilating 
current  in  the  total  equals  no  less  than  196,000  cubic  feet  of 
air  per  minute  circulating  through  the  mine  at  a  velocity  of 
18  feet  3  inches  per  second. 

The  foul  gases  or  damps  evolved  in  mines  are  either  heavy 
or  light.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  former  is  the  choice- 
damp,  or  black-damp,  the  name  given  by  the  miners  to  carbonic 
acid  gas.  From  its  great  specific  gravity  (1*527),  this  gas  rests 
on  the  floor  of  the  mine  and  gradually  accumulates,  having 
no  tendency  to  escape  beyond  a  slow  mixture  which  takes  place 
with  atmospheric  air;  while  the  light  fire-damp,  or  carburet- 
ted  hydrogen,  which,  though  not  immediately  fatal  when 
breathed,  explodes  on  the  slightest  contact  with  flame,  tends 
to  rise  to  the  surface.  The  quantity  of  fire-damp  which  is 
poured  out  into  the  workings  of  some  mines  is  very  consider- 
able, and  constantly  varying.  Some  seams  of  coal  are  much 
more  full  of  it  than  others,  and  in  working  these,  which  are 
technically  called  fiery  seams,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  jet  of 
inflammable  air  to  issue  out  at  ever}'  hole  made  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  gunpowder  before  blasting. 

In  the  celebrated  Wallsend  Colliery,  in  an  attempt  made  to 
work  the  Bensham  Seam  (an  attempt  which  ended  in  a  fearful 
accident),  Mr.  Buddie  said,  in  evidence  before  a  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons  : — '  I  simply  drilled  a  hole  into  the 
solid  coal,  stuck  a  tin  pipe  into  the  aperture,  surrounded  it 
with  clay,  and  lighted  it.  I  had  immediately  a  gas  light. 
The  quantity  evolved  from  the  coal  was  such  that  in  every  one 
of  those  places  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  apply  a  candle,  and 
then  could  set  a  thousand  pipes  on  fire.  The  whole  face  of 
the  working  was  a  gas-pipe  from  every  pore  of  coal.' 


INFLAMMABLE    GAS  IN    MINES.  279 

The  force  with,  which  the  gas  escapes  on  some  occasions 
from  clefts  or  joints  is  so  great  as  to  prove  much  previous 
compression.  These  sudden  outbursts  are  locally  termed 
bloivers.  Their  issues  and  effects  are  surprising.  In  one 
minute  they  have  been  known  to  foul  the  air  to  a  distance  of 
300  yards,  and  their  noise  is  described  as  like  that  of  rushing 
waters,  or  the  roar  of  a  blast  furnace.  They  are  not  merely 
dangerous  from  their  inflammable  vapours,  but  also  from  the 
pieces  of  coal  which  their  tension  not  seldom -forces  from  the 
roof,  and  whose  fall  maims  or  kills  the  unfortunate  workmen 
beneath. 

The  fire-damp  is  very  liable  to  accumulate  in  old  workings, 
or  goaves,  which  thus,  unless  completely  isolated  by  stone  and 
mortar,  become  a  highly  dangerous  neighbourhood  to  the  other 
parts  of  the  mine.  The  immense  quantity  of  gas  evolved  from 
a  goaf  of  about  five  acres  in  Wallsend  old  pit  affords  a  striking 
example  of  the  danger  of  all  such  accumulations.  A  four- inch 
metallic  pipe  was  conducted  from  the  bottom  of  the  pit  to  the 
surface  of  the  ground  and  a  few  feet  above  it,  when,  a  light 
being  applied,  a  hissing  streamer  of  flame  flashed  forth  and 
burned  night  and  day.  The  amount  of  gas  thus  drawn  oft' 
from  the  mine  was  at  first  computed  at  about  15,000  hogsheads 
in  twenty-  four  hours.  Long  did  the  little  pipe  continue  to 
pour  out  in  streaming  flame  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
hogsheads  of  escaping  fire-damp.  The  total  issue  might  have 
illuminated  a  little  town. 

The  explosion  of  inflammable  gas  is  the  most  fearful  enemy 
the  collier  has  to  encounter.  Three  or  four  cubic  inches  of 
carburetted  hydrogen,  when  ignited,  produce  a  detonation  like 
that  of  a  pistol-shot ;  half  a  cubic  foot,  enclosed  in  a  bottle  and 
set  fire  to,  shivers  the  bottle  into  fragments  ;  hence  we  may 
judge  how  terrific  the  effects  must  be  when  a  blower  pours 
forth  its  thousands  of  cubic  feet  into  the  galleries  of  a  mine, 
and  the  careless  approach  of  a  light  lets  loose  the  demons  of 
destruction.  The  explosion  of  a  large  subterranean  powder 
magazine  would  not  be  more  terrific,  Often  without  a 
moment's  warning  the  unfortunate  pitman  is  scorched  and 
shrivelled  to  a  blackened  mass,  or  is  literally  shattered  to 
pieces  against  the  rugged  sides  of  the  mine. 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  many  efforts  have  been  made, 


280 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


and  many  contrivances  suggested,  to  disarm  the  fire-damp  of 
its  terrors ;  but  Sir  Humphry  Davy's  safety-lamp  was  the 
first  invention  which  successfully  coped  with  it.  The  power  of 
the  safety-lamp  lies  in  the  non- communication  of  explosions 
through  small  apertures,  and  the  discovery  of  this  natural  law, 
as  well  as  its  practical  application,  is  one  of  the  greatest  exploits 
of  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  A  cylinder  an  inch  and  a  half  in 
diameter  and  seven  inches  long,  formed  of  wire  gauze,  with 
784  apertures  to  the  square  inch,  surrounds 
the  light  of  the  lamp.  When  the  miner, 
armed  with  this  apparatus,  enters  an  atmo- 
sphere tainted  with  fire-damp,  a  light  blue 
flame  fills  the  cylinder ;  but,  as  if  chained  by 
some  magic  power,  it  is  unable  to  transgress 
its  bounds ;  and  as  in  our  Zoological  Gardens 
we  quietly  view  the  beasts  of  the  forest  behind 
their  iron  grating,  so  the  miner  looks  calmly 
upon  his  powerless  foe. 

Unfortunately,  the  negligence  or  the  ob- 
stinate and  blind  perversity  of  the  miner  too 
often  renders  even  this  splendid  invention 
ineffectual. 

The  safety-lamp  requires  to  be  kept  in 
perfect  order,  and  unless  certain  precautions 
are  taken  while  using  it,  it  loses  its  pro- 
tecting power.  Thus,  although  perfectly 
secure  when  at  rest,  it  seems  certain  that 
the  rapid  motion  communicated  by  the  swing  of  the  arm 
during  a  hurried  transit  through  the  mine  has  in  many 
cases  produced  an  explosion.  Blowing  out  the  lamp  is 
likewise  attended  with  danger,  as  the  flame  is  then  easily 
driven  through  the  gauze,  and,  like  a  tiger  escaping  from 
his  den,  may  spread  terror  and  havoc  around ;  but  the  chief 
cause  of  accidents  consists  in  the  small  quantity  of  light 
diffused  by  the  safety-lamp,  and  the  consequent  dislike  ac- 
quired by  the  miners  to  its  use. 

Though  in  all  well-regulated  coal-pits  one  or  several 
workmen  are  exclusively  employed  in  keeping  the  lamps 
in  the  most  perfect  order,  though  they  are  handed  to  the 
miners  burning  and  well  closed,  and  fines  are  imposed  upon 


SAFETY   LAMP. 


CHOKE-DAMP.  281 

any  attempt  to  remove  the  gauze,  yet  the  best  regulations 
cannot  possibly  exclude  the  chance  of  accident  resulting  from 
the  almost  inconceivable  carelessness  of  men  whose  daily 
tasks  lead  them  into  imminent  danger.  Thus  it  is  a  melan- 
choly but  unquestionable  fact  that  the  number  of  accidents 
from  fire-damp  since  the  introduction  of  the  Davy  lamp  has 
been  many  more  in  a  given  number  of  years  than  before  that 
invention.  This  has,  no  doubt,  partly  arisen  from  the  larger 
number  of  persons  employed  on  the  whole ;  but  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  it  has  chiefly  happened  from  dangerous  portions 
of  a  mine  being  taken  into  work  which  without  the  Davy 
could  not  have  been  attempted,  and  partly  also  from  the 
extreme  carelessness  of  the  workmen  in  removing  the  wire 
gauze.* 

Unfortunately,  the  fatal  effects  of  this  rashness  are  not 
confined  to  the  foolhardy  miner  who  thus  casts  away  the 
shield  that  preserves  him  from  danger,  but  generally  extend 
to  many  of  his  innocent  comrades.  In  the  year  1856  an 
explosion  which  took  place  in  the  Cymmer  coal-pit  killed  110 
persons,  and  in  the  year  1857  170  workmen  in  the  Lundshill 
colliery  were  swept  from  life  to  death  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning.  In  the  year  1858  the  fire-damp  levied  a  contribu- 
tion of  215  victims  in  the  coal-pits  of  England,  while  in  1859 
it  was  satisfied  with  95.  But  in  1860,  as  if  to  make  up  for 
this  deficiency,  it  raged  with  double  violence ;  for,  after 
having  already  claimed  a  tribute  of  80  lives,  the  dreadful  ex- 
plosion which  took  place  in  the  Risca  Colliery  on  December  1 
destroyed  no  less  than  142  men  and  boys.  The  fire-damp 
explosion  which  occurred  at  the  Oaks  Colliery  in  1866  swept 
away  the  unprecedented  number  of  361  victims,  and  in  the 
same  year  91  workmen  perished  from  the  same  cause  at 
Talk-o'-th'-Hill  Colliery. 

In  these  dreadful  catastrophes  the  most  terrible  agent  of 
destruction  is  not  always  the  burning  and  concussion  of  the 
actual  blast  of  fire-damp,  but  the  choke-damp  which  succeeds 

*  Eecent  improvements  have  done  much  to  render  the  Davy  lamp  a  more  perfect 
instrument  of  safety.  These  more  or  less  insure  increased  illumination,  pre- 
vention of  bad  usage  by  locking,  and  more  perfect  combustion.  By  an  ingenious 
contrivance,  one  of  these  improved  lamps  cannot  be  opened  without  previous 
extinguishment. 


282  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  explosion.  For  the  carbon  of  the  inflammable  gas, 
uniting  with  the  oxgyen  of  the  air,  produces  that  deadly 
poison,  carbonic  acid  gas,  which,  from  the  disturbed  venti- 
lation of  the  pit,  soon  spreads  far  and  wide  through  the 
galleries  ;  so  that  the  poor  colliers  who  are  caught  in  an 
exploded  pit  have  two  chances  of  death  against  them — one 
from  burning,  and  the  other  from  suffocation.  The  effect  of 
death  by  the  one  gas  or  the  other  is  very  distinctly  seen  in  the 
countenances  of  the  dead.  The  men  killed  by  the  fire-damp 
are  marked  with  barns  and  scorching,  and  their  features  are 
more  or  less  distorted  or  disfigured.  On  the  other  hand, 
where  men  have  been  suffocated  by  choke-damp,  their 
features  are  placid  and  simply  inanimate.  The  fragile  and 
faulty  separations  (whether  doors  or  stoppings  of  any  kind) 
having  been  broken  down,  there  is  an  end  to  a  hope  of  safe 
retreat  even  for  men  totally  unharmed  by  the  flames,  for  at 
once  the  air  takes  the  shortest  course  between  the  entrance 
and  exit,  and  leaves  the  shattered  parts  unventilated. 
Whatever  after-damp  is  then  and  there  generated  exerts  its 
effects  in  full,  and  those  who  cannot  rush  to  the  shaft  are 
suffocated.  In  the  explosion  at  Bisca  it  was  declared  by 
the  surgeon  to  the  pit  that  of  those  who  were  killed  no  less 
than  seventy  persons  died  from  the  effects  of  after-damp  who 
had  not  been  near  the  fire.  In  the  great  Has  well  explosion, 
several  years  since,  seventy-one  deaths  out  of  ninety-five 
were  occasioned  by  choke-damp  ;  and  at  the  explosion  in  the 
Middle  Dyffryn  Pit  in  1852  no  less  than  seven-eighths  of 
the  deaths  proceeded  from  this  cause.  Persons  of  great 
experience  attribute  at  least  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  deaths 
in  fiery  mines  to  after-damp,  while  some  advance  them  even 
to  ninety  per  cent. 

After  relating  so  many  frightful  disasters,  too  frequently 
caused  by  imprudence  and  rashness,  it  is  a  more  pleasing  task 
to  mention  a  few  instances  of  warnings  taken  in  time.  At 
Walker  Colliery  on  the  Tyne,  in  the  year  1846,  a  huge  mass  of 
coal  weighing  about  eleven  tons  was  forced  from  its  bed,  and 
a  great  discharge  of  gas  succeeded.  Two  men  who  were 
furnished  with  Davy  lamps  were  working  where  this  dis- 
charge took  place ;  one  of  them  had  his  lamp  covered  with 
the  falling  coal,  and  the  other  had  his  extinguished.     They 


BURNING    MINES.  283 

groped  their  way  to  warn  the  other  miners,  and  then  all, 
extinguishing  their  lamps  as  they  went,  safely  escaped  to  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft,  and  were  drawn  up. 

A  few  months  after  a  second  discharge  from  another  part 
of  the  same  colliery  took  place.  A  bore-hole  having  been 
made,  a  violent  noise  like  the  blowing  off  of  steam  was 
heard,  and  a  heavy  discharge  of  gas  filled  the  air  courses  for 
a  distance  of  641  yards  and  over  an  area  of  80,306  cubic  feet. 
At  400  yards  from  the  point  of  efflux  a  mining  officer  met  the 
foul  air,  felt  it  blowing  against  him,  saw  the  safety-lamp  in 
his  hand  enlarge  its  flame,  and  drew  down  the  wick.  Still 
the  gas  continued  to  burn  in  his  lamp  for  ten  minutes, 
making1  the  wires  red  hot.  and  then  the  li<>*ht  went  out— a 
hint  not  lost  on  the  owner,  who  quickly  followed  its  example. 
At  a  distance  of  641  yards  from  the  efflux  of  the  gas  he  met 
four  men  and  boys  whose  lamps  were  rapidly  reddening.  At 
once  they  had  the  self-possession  to  immerse  them  in  water, 
and  thus  escaped  all  danger  of  explosion. 

The  disastrous  effects  of  the  fire-damp  are  not  confined  to 
the  loss  of  human  life  ;  they  are  also  extremely  injurious  to  the 
workings,  tearing  up  galleries,  shattering  machinery,  or  even 
setting  fire  to  the  mine — an  accident  which  may  also  be 
caused  by  spontaneous  combustion*  or  by  the  negligence  of 
the  workmen.  These  fires  are  often  subdued  by  isolating  the 
burning  coal  seam,  by  means  of  dams  or  clay  walls,  or  by 
filling  the  mine  with  water;  but  not  seldom  they  last  for 
years,  and  assume  dimensions  which  mock  all  human  efforts 
to  extinguish  them. 

At  Brule,  near  St.  Etienne,  a  coal  mine  has  been  on  fire  for 
ages.  The  soil  on  the  surface  is  barren  and  calcined,  and 
the  dense  sulphurous  fumes,  escaping  from  innumerable 
crevices,  give  the  country  a  complete  volcanic  aspect. 

In  the  carboniferous  basins  of  Staffordshire  and  of  Saar- 
briick  and  Silesia  there  are  likewise  coal  mines  which  have 
been  on  fire  for  a  long  period.  At  Zwickau  in  Saxony  the 
first  accounts  of  one  of  these  subterranean  conflagrations 
date  as  far  back  as  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  fire  still 

*  Experience  has  proved  that  when  sulphuret  of  iron  undergoes  a  chemical 
change  into  vitriol  it  disengages  a  sufficient  quantity  of  heat  to  set  fire  to  the 
coal  with  which  it  is  often  found  mixed. 


284  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

burns  on.  The  hot  vapours  which  rise  from  the  surface  have 
since  1837  been  put  to  an  ingenious  use.  Conducted  through 
pipes  into  conservatories,  they  ripen  the  choicest  fruits  of  the 
south,  and  produce  a  tropical  climate  under  a  northern  sky. 
In  a  Staffordshire  colliery  which  had  been  on  fire  for  many 
years,  and  which  was  called  by  the  inhabitants  Burning  Hill, 
it  was  noticed  that  the  snow  melted  on  reaching  the  ground, 
and  that  the  grass  in  the  meadows  was  always  green.  Some 
speculators  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  school  of 
horticulture  on  the  spot,  and  imported  colonial  plants  at  a 
heavy  expense.  These  flourished  for  a  time,  but  one  day  the 
subterranean  fire  went  out,  and  as  the  heat  it  had  imparted 
to  the  soil  gradually  diminished  and  departed,  the  exotic 
vegetation  likewise  drooped  and  died. 


285 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

GOLD. 

The  Golden  Fleece — Golden  Statues  in  ancient  Temples  —  A  Free-thinking 
Soldier — Treasures  of  ancient  Monarchs  —  First  Gold  Coins  —  Ophir — Spanish 
Gold  Mines  —  Bohemian  Gold  Mines — Discovery  of  America  —  Siberian  Gold 
Mines  —  California  —  Marshall  —  Eush  to  the  Placers  —  Discovery  of  Gold  in 
Australia — The  Chinaman's  Hole — New  Eldorados — Alluvial  Gold  Deposits  in 
California  and  Australia — -Washing — Quartz-crushing. 

GOLD  is  probably  the  metal  which  has  been  longest  known 
to  man.  For  as  it  is  found  only  in  the  metallic  state, 
its  weight  and  brilliancy  most  naturally  have  attracted 
attention  or  awakened  greed  at  a  very  early  age.  Thus 
we  read  in  the  Bible  that  one  of  the  rivers  flowing  from 
Paradise  '  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where 
there  is  gold,  and  the  gold  of  that  land  is  good.'  Gold  is  also 
mentioned  among  the  riches  of  Abraham,  and  when  the 
patriarch's  servant  met  Rebekah  at  the  fountain  of  Nahor,  he 
presented  the  damsel  with  a  'golden  earring  of  half  a  shekel 
weight,  and  two  bracelets  for  her  hands  of  ten  shekels 
weight  of  gold,'  undoubtedly  the  first  trinkets  on  record. 

The  mythical  history  of  Greece  has  likewise  been  thought 
to  point  to  a  very  ancient  knowledge  of  gold,  and  the  story 
of  the  search  for  the  '  Golden  Fleece '  has  by  some  been 
explained  as  an  expedition  undertaken  in  quest  of  the  metal ; 
for  the  use  of  sheepskins  or  woollen  coverings,  to  collect  and 
retain  the  minutest  particles  of  gold  during  the  operation  of 
washing,  is  common  in  many  auriferous  countries.  Prom 
the  great  value  which  the  ancient  nations  attached  to  its 
possession,  gold  was  largely  used  for  the  decoration  of  their 
temples,  and  many  of  their  idols  were  made  of  gold.  Such, 
among  others,  was  the  image  of  Belus,  seated  on  a  golden 
throne  in  the  great  temple  of  Babylon ;  that  of  Apollo  at 


<28G  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Delphi,  and  the  magnificent  statue  of  the  Olympian  Zeus, 
composed,  by  the  hand  of  Phidias,  of  ivory  and  gold,  and  still 
less  remarkable  for  its  costly  materials  than  for  the  consum- 
mate beauty  of  its  workmanship. 

Pliny  relates  that  a  massive  golden  statue  of  the  goddess 
Anaitis  was  taken  by  Marc  Antony  in  his  war  against  the 
Parthians.  The  Emperor  Augustus,  dining  one  day  at 
Bononia  with  an  old  veteran  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
campaign,  asked  him  whether  it  was  true  that  the  sacri- 
legious soldier  who  had  first  laid  hands  on  the  goddess  had 
been  suddenly  deprived  of  the  use  of  his  eyes  and  limbs,  and 
had  thus  miserably  perished.  '  I  myself  am  the  man,' 
answered  the  smiling  host;  i  you  are  dining  from  off  her  thigh, 
and  to  her  am  I  indebted  for  all  the  plate  in  my  possession.' 

The  wealth  of  monarchs  was  estimated  less  by  the  extent 
of  their  domains  than  by  the  gold  which  they  possessed, 
and  as  each  successive  conqueror  added  to  the  spoils  of  van- 
quished nations,  the  treasures  accumulated  by  single  despots 
grew  to  an  almost  fabulous  amount.  Every  schoolboy  knows 
that  the  vast  treasures  of  Croesus  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Cyrus,  who,  according  to  the  rather  questionable  authority 
of  Pliny,  acquired  in  Asia  Minor  no  less  than  24,000  pounds 
weight  of  gold,  without  reckoning  the  vases  and  the  wrought 
metal.  To  this  treasure  his  son  Cambyses  added  the  gold  of 
Egypt,  and  Darius  Etystaspis  the  tribute  of  the  frontier 
nations  of  India.  Thus  the  gold  of  almost  the  whole  known 
world  was  accumulated  in  one  single  hoard,  which,  after  the 
taking  of  Persepolis,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Alexander  the 
Great.  Plutarch  relates  that  1 0,000  teams  of  mules  and  500 
camels  were  needed  for  the  transport  of  this  wealth  to  Susa, 
where  Alexander  was  cheated  out  of  a  great  part  of  it  by  his 
treasurer.  Rome,  the  subsequent  mistress  of  the  world,  natu- 
rally absorbed  the  greater  part  of  the  riches  of  Tyre  and 
Carthage,  of  Asia  and  Egypt.  Sixty-six  years  after  the 
third  Punic  war  the  public  treasury  contained  1,620,831 
pounds  weight  of  gold,  and  still  greater  wealth  was  accumu- 
lated under  the  Csesars.  As  the  empire  declined,  the  hoards 
amassed  in  the  times  of  its  increasing  power  were  once  more 
dispersed.  A  considerable  part,  however,  found  its  way  to 
Constantinople,  and  after  many  a  loss,  caused  by  the  repeated 


EARLIEST    USE   OF   GOLD.  2h7 

disasters  of  a  thousand  years,  the  remnant  fell  at  length  into 
the  hands  of  the  victorious  Turks. 

The  time  when  gold  was  first  coined  is  unknown.  The 
oldest  specimen  in  the  Imperial  Cabinet  at  Vienna  is  from 
Cyzicus,  a  town  of  Mysia,  and  bears  the  date  of  the  seventh 
century  before  Christ ;  the  next  coin  in  point  of  antiquity  is 
Persian,  and  was  probably  struck  under  the  reign  of  Cyrus. 
According  to  Pliny,  gold  was  first  coined  by  the  Romans  in 
the  year  547  after  the  foundation  of  the  city.  During  the 
empire  of  the  Chalifes  Abuschafar-al-Monsur  established  a 
mint  at  Bagdad,  in  which  silver  coins  (dirhems)  and  gold 
coins  (dinars)  *  were  struck.  The  Visigoths  in  Spain  like- 
wise had  golden  coins;  but  in  the  other  western  medieval 
States  they  first  appear,  after  a  long  interval,  under  Lewis 
the  Pious,  son  of  Charlemagne,  in  Venice,  in  1290;  and  in 
Bohemia,  under  John  of  Luxembourg.  The  gold  of  the  Caro- 
lingian  monarch  probably  proceeded  from  the  spoils  of  the 
old  west  Roman  Empire ;  that  of  the  Venetians  (zecchins  or 
ducats)  was,  no  doubt,  obtained,  like  that  of  the  Phoenicians 
of  old,  by  trading  with  the  gold  countries  of  Africa  and  of  the 
distant  East.  The  Florentines,  the  rivals  of  Venice,  likewise 
obtained  wealth  by  trade,  and  struck  gold  coins,  which,  from 
their  being  stamped  with  a  flower,  the  arms  of  Plorence,  were 
called  fiorini,  or  florins. 

The  coins  of  the  kings  of  Bohemia  were  made  from  in- 
digenous gold.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  since 
those  times  the  use  of  gold  coins  has  been  constantly  increas- 
ing with  the  progress  of  trade  and  civilisation  ;  but  even  now, 
in  many  African  and  Asiatic  countries  which  possess  large 
quantities  of  gold,  no  coins  are  struck,  but  the  metal  is 
weighed,  and  thus  serves  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  in  the 
same  manner  as  in  the  times  of  Abraham  or  Jacob. 

The  countries  from  which  the  ancients  obtained  their  chief 
supply  of  gold  were  the  Indian  Highlands,  Colchis,  and 
Africa.  The  seat  of  Ophir,  which  furnished  this  precious 
metal  to  the  Phoenician  and  Jewish  traders,  is  unknown. 
While  some  authorities  place  it  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
others  fix  its  situation  somewhere  on  the  west  coast  of  the 

*  These  names  were  borrowed  from  the  Greek  Drachma  and  the  Latin  Denarius. 


288  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Indian  peninsula ;  and  Humboldt  is  even  of  opinion  that  the 
name  had  only  a  general  signification,  and  that  a  voyage  to 
Ophir  meant  no  more  than  a  commercial  expedition  to  any  of 
the  coasts  or  isles  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  just  as  at  present  we 
speak  of  a  voyage  to  the  Levant  or  the  West  Indies.  The 
golden  sands  over  which  the  Pactolus,  a  small  river  of 
Lydia,  rolled,  gave  rise,  it  has  been  said,  to  the  wealth  of 
Croesus. 

The  richest  auriferous  land  in  Europe  was  the  Iberian 
peninsula,  which  for  centuries  yielded  a  golden  harvest,  first 
to  the  Carthaginians,  then  to  the  Romans,  and  at  a  still  later 
period  to  the  Visigoths  and  the  Moors.  During  the  middle 
ages  Bohemia  was  renowned  for  its  gold,  and  the  accounts 
that  have  reached  us  of  the  times  when  her  auriferous 
deposits  first  began  to  be  extensively  worked  remind  us  of 
the  scenes  which  our  own  age  has  witnessed  in  California  or 
Australia.  Bloody  conflicts  frequently  arose  between  gold- 
diggers  and  peasants  because  the  former  devastated  the  fields 
and  meadows  and  left  them  permanently  sterile.  Even  now  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  long  ranges  of  sand  hillocks  and 
rubbish  mounds  remain  as  memorials  of  the  media3val  gold- 
diggers.  Frequent  famines  arose  in  the  land,  as  many  of  the 
inhabitants  gave  up  agriculture  for  mining. 

A  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  gold  began  with  the  dis- 
covery of  America.  We  all  know  by  what  prodigies  of 
valour  the  Spaniards  obtained  possession  of  the  treasures  of 
Montezuma  and  of  the  Peruvian  Incas,  and  how  frequently 
acts  of  a  fiendish  cruelty,  inspired  by  the  love  of  gold,  and 
aggravated  by  a  bloodthirsty  fanaticism,  tarnished  the  lustre 
of  their  arms. 

More  recently,  about  the  year  1836,  rich  deposits  of  auri- 
ferous sand  were  discovered  in  Siberia,  and  soon  raised  the 
frozen  regions  of  the  Jenisei  to  the  rank  of  the  first  gold- 
producing  country  in  the  world.*  But  the  fame  of  the 
Russian  mines  was  soon  eclipsed  by  the  eventful  discovery 
of  the  Californian  placers. 

It  was  in  January  1848,  a  short  time  after  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  province  with  the  United  States,  that  one  James 
Marshall,  who  had  contracted  to  build  a  saw-mill  on  the 
*  'The  Polar  World,'  p.  231. 


GOLD    MINES    OF    CALIFORNIA.  289 

land  of  Captain  Sutter,  about  sixty  miles  east  of  Sacramento, 
discovered  the  glittering  particles  in  the  mud  of  the  brook 
on  which  he  was  at  work.  Trembling  with  excitement,  he 
hurried  to  his  employer,  and  told  his  story.  Captain  Sutter 
at  first  thought  it  was  a  fiction,  or  the  wild  dream  of  a 
maniac ;  but  his  doubts  were  soon  at  an  end  when  Marshall 
laid  on  the  table  before  him  a  few  ounces  of  the  shining 
dust.  The  two  agreed  to  keep  the  matter  secret,  and  quietly 
to  share  the  golden  harvest  between  them.  But,  as  they 
afterwards  searched  more  narrowly,  their  eager  gestures  and 
looks  happened  to  be  closely  watched  by  a  Mormon  labourer 
employed  about  the  neighbourhood.  He  followed  their 
movements,  and  the  secret  was  speedily  divulged. 

It  appears  that  Marshall  did  not  escape  the  ordinary  lot 
of  discoverers,  for  a  few  years  later  he  was  wandering,  poor 
and  homeless,  over  the  land  which  was  first  indebted  to  him 
for  its  enormous  development. 

The  intelligence  of  the  Californian  gold  treasures  soon 
spread  over  the  world,  and  a  wonderful  flood  of  immigration 
began  into  the  newly-proclaimed  Eldorado.  An  innumerable 
crowd  of  adventurers  from  every  part  of  the  New  World, 
from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  from  Europe,  from  Australia, 
came  pouring  in  over  the  Eocky  Mountains,  through  Mexico, 
round  Cape  Horn,  or  across  the  Pacific,  all  eager  to  seize 
fortune  in  a  bound  or  to  perish  in  the  attempt.  Every  week 
dispatched  its  thousands  to  the  diggings,  and  saw  its 
hundreds  of  successful  adventurers  return  to  dissipate  their 
earnings  in  the  gambling  saloons  of  the  infant  metropolis. 
In  less  than  ten  years  California  numbered  more  than  half  a 
million  of  inhabitants,  and  San  Francisco,  from  an  obscure 
hamlet,  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  one  of  the  great  commercial 
emporiums  of  the  world. 

Science  had  little  to  do  with  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California ;  but  the  case  was  different  in  Australia.  As  early 
as  1844  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  directed  attention  to  the 
remarkable  resemblance  between  the  Australian  cordillera 
and  the  auriferous  Uralian  chain.  Two  years  later,  his  sur- 
mises about  the  hidden  treasures  of  that  distant  colony  were 
confirmed  by  some  samples  of  auriferous  quartz  sent  to  him 
from  Australia.     Relying  upon  this  fact,  he  advised  some 

u 


'290  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Cornish  emigrants  to  choose  Australia  for  their  new  home, 
and  to  seek  for  gold  among  the  debris  of  the  primitive  rocks. 
His  opinion  having  become  known  at  Sydney,  through  the 
newspapers,  researches  were  made,  which  proved  so  far 
successful  that  in  1848  gold  was  found  in  several  places 
in  South  Australia. 

The  first  important  discovery  was,  however,  not  made 
before  the  year  1851,  when  Mr.  Hargraves  made  known  to 
Government  that  rich  gold  deposits  were  situated  to  the 
north-west  of  Bathurst,  on  the  Summerhill  and  Lewis 
rivulets,  which  flow  into  the  Macquarie.  When  the 
geological  Government  inspector  arrived  at  Summerhill 
Creek,  on  May  19,  he  found  that  about  four  hundred 
persons  had  already  assembled  there,  who,  without  any 
other  mining  apparatus  than  a  shovel  and  a  simple 
tin  pot,  gained,  on  an  average,  from  one  to  two  ounces  of 
gold  daily. 

Soon  after,  still  richer  deposits  were  found  near  the 
Turon  and  the  Meroo,  two  other  branches  of  the  Macquarie. 
Here  a  native  shepherd,  in  the  service  of  Dr.  Kerr, 
found  three  quartz  blocks,  of  which  the  largest  contained 
sixty  pounds  weight  of  pure  gold.  It  may  easily  be  sup- 
posed that  the  whole  neighbourhood  became  at  once  the 
scene  of  active  researches,  which  at  first  proved  fruitless, 
until  at  length  a  fourth  quartz  block  was  discovered,  and 
publicly  sold  for  a  thousand  pounds.  Other  discoveries  were 
made  within  the  bounds  of  New  South  Wales ;  but  even  the 
richest  of  them  were  soon  to  be  obscured  by  the  treasures  of 
the  neighbouring  colony. 

As  late  as  1836  Port  Philip  had  remained  an  unknown 
land,  for  it  was  not  until  then  that  its  first  settlers,  attracted 
by  the  richness  of  the  pastures,  arrived  from  Tasmania. 
Soon  a  small  town  arose  on  the  Yarra-Yarra,  and,  though 
badly  chosen  as  a  port,  Melbourne  soon  rose  to  importance. 
In  1850  the  district  was  made  an  independent  colony,  which 
received  the  name  of  Victoria.  Here  the  traders  and  sheep- 
drivers  now  mourned  over  the  news  from  Sydney.  The  best 
workmen  had  already  left  for  the  gold-fields,  and  if  the 
exodus  went  on  increasing,  nothing  remained  for  them  but 
to  follow  the  example,  or  quietly  to  await  the  ruin  of  their 


AUSTRALIAN   GOLD    MINES.  291 

hopes—a  patience  which  agrees  but  little  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  character. 

To  prevent  the  impending  evil,  a  reward  of  200  guineas 
was  immediately  set  upon  the  discovery  of  a  gold-field  within 
120  miles  from  Melbourne,  and  soon  after  the  world  was 
astonished  by  the  intelligence  of  the  fabulous  riches  of 
Ballarat,  at  the  source  of  the  River  Lea.  The  first  conse- 
quence of  this  discovery  was  that  the  towns  of  Geelong  and 
Melbourne,  both  not  above  sixty  miles  from  Ballarat,  were 
immediately  deserted  by  their  inhabitants,  and  that,  within 
a  few  weeks,  more  than  3,000  gold-diggers  had  collected  on 
the  spot,  who  were  gaining,  on  an  average,  their  ten  or 
twenty  pounds  a  day.  But  here  also  there  was  no  definite 
resting-place,  for  new  prospects  of  dazzling  wealth  constantly 
allured  the  crowd  to  new  and  still  more  distant  fields  of 
enterprise.  Twenty  thousand  people,  meeting  with  fair 
success,  would  migrate  in  a  day,  abandon  their  claims,  and 
rush  upon  the  new  tract.  The  passions  of  human  nature 
were  roused  by  one  of  the  strongest  of  its  instincts;  and 
madness  and  suicide,  arising  from  excess  of  joy  and  wild 
despair,  were  far  from  uncommon  occurrences.  The  whole 
order  of  society  was  inverted,  and  the  labourer  became  of 
more  importance  than  the  employer  of  labour.  The  scum 
of  the  adjoining  colonies  boiled  over  and  deluged  the  land 
with  vice  and  crime.  Bush-ranging  extended  over  every 
portion  of  the  country,  and  even  the  streets  of  Melbourne 
became  the  scenes  of  robbery  and  murder.  The  diggers 
were  of  all  nations :  Germans,  French,  Italians,  American- 
Irish,  Californians,  and  Chinese — these  last  being  the  best 
conducted  of  this  motley  population,  who  as  early  as  1860 
numbered  50,000.  To  this  strange  people  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  Australian  gold  discoveries  is  due.  The 
immigration-tax,  which  had  been  vainly  devised  to  check  their 
influx  (for  they  are  objects  of  the  greatest  antipathy  to  the 
white  gold-diggers),  drove  them  to  a  surreptitious  mode  of 
entering  the  colony  ;  and,  landing  at  Gurchen  Bay  in  South 
Australia,  and  taking  a  course  thence  over  the  frontier  across 
the  Grampian  ranges,  they  came  upon  a  deposit  of  marvellous 
richness,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Ararat.     In  one  of 

u  2 


292 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


their  first  encampments,  while  picking  up  the  roots  of  grass 
and  prying  for  gold,  they  found  the  celebrated  '  Chinaman's 
Hole,'  which  yielded  3,000  ounces  in  a  few  hours.  This  led 
to  the  greatest  rush  which  had  ever  been  known  in  the  gold- 
fields,  for  60,000  people  congregated  there  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  before  a  month  had  elapsed  an  immense  town  was 
systematically  laid  out.  Shops,  taverns  and  hotels,  theatres 
and  billiard-rooms,  sprang  up  in  the  desert,  like  the  mystic 
trees  of  Indian  jugglers,  and  were  quickly  followed  by  a 
daily  mail  and  a  daily  newspaper.  Thus,  within  the  space  of 
two  months,  the  magical  power  of   gold  converted   a  wild 


GOLD-WASHING  IX  AUSTRALIA. 


mountain  gorge  into  a  teeming  city,  where  frontages  were 
nearly  as  valuable  as  in  the  heart  of  London. 

The  great  social  disorganisation  which  distinguished  the 
first  few  years  of  the  Australian  gold  discoveries  has  long 
since  passed  away,  together  with  much  of  the  excitement 
natural  to  a  transition  state.  Order  now  universally  pre- 
vails, and  the  occupations  of  life  are  pursued  with  as  much 
regularity  as  in  the  oldest  States.  The  growth  of  the  colony, 
which  scarcely  thirty  years  since  was  a  mere  unknown  waste, 
is  not  the  least  marvellous  of  the  many  marvels  that  have 


AREA    OF    GOLD    DISCOVERIES.  293 

been  worked  by  gold.  In  the  year  1851  the  population  of 
the  province  was  77,345  persons,  of  whom  28,143  were 
located  in  Melbourne.  In  1860,  it  had  already  increased  to 
462,000,  and  probably  the  next  few  years  will  find  it  aug- 
mented to  a  million,  while  Melbourne  already  rivals  our  larger 
cities  in  size  and  wealth. 

The  wonderful  discoveries  in  California  and  Australia 
having  made  gold  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  the  day,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  new  Eldorados  were  now  eagerly  sought 
for  wherever  the  geological  formation  of  a  country  held  out 
the  hope  of  similar  treasures. 

Fresh  and  highly-productive  gold-fields  have,  within  the 
last  few  years,  been  opened  in  British  Columbia,  and,  still 
further  to  the  north,  in  the  Arctic  wilds  of  the  infant  colony  of 
Stikeen.  Numerous  diggers  are  at  work  in  New  Zealand,  and 
in  the  deserts  to  the  north  of  the  Cape.  A  system  of  auri- 
ferous veins  has  been  discovered  in  North  Wales  ;  the  county 
of  Sutherland,  the  Ultima  Thule  of  our  isle,  claims  to  be 
ranked  among  the  gold-producing  regions ;  and  numerous 
adventurers  are  on  their  way  to  the  frozen  deserts  of 
Lapland,  where  the  glittering  metal  is  said  to  abound  in  the 
basin  of  the  Ivalo. 

At  no  former  period  of  the  world's  history  has  gold  been 
so  eagerly  sought  for  over  such  extensive  areas  in  all  parts 
of  the  globe  ;  never  have  larger  quantities  of  the  precious 
metal  been  added  to  the  accumulated  hoards  of  ages.  No 
doubt  this  vast  influx  of  wealth  has  in  many  cases  been 
productive  of  evil  consequences  ;  but  its  beneficial  influence 
upon  the  progress  and  happiness  of  mankind  far  outweighs 
the  injury  it  may  too  frequently  have  caused  by  rousing  the 
worst  passions  of  our  nature.  An  astonishing  impetus  has 
already  been  given  to  commerce  and  industry ;  competence 
and  wealth  have  been  diffused  over  many  lands ;  deserts 
have  been  transformed  into  growing  empires ;  and  a  vast 
continent,  long  despised  as  the  convict's  prison,  has  been 
raised  in  the  social  scale  to  a  height  almost  commensurate 
with  its  geographical  importance. 

The  mineral  formations  in  which  gold  originally  occurs 
are  the  crystalline  primitive  rocks,  the  compact  transition 
rocks,  and  the  trachytic  and   trap   rocks,    which,  by  their 


294  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

disintegration  have,  in  the  course  of  ages,  enriched  large 
alluvial  tracts  with  particles  of  the  precious  metal.  Torrents 
and  rivers  washed  them  down  from  the  heights,  along  with 
the  worthless  rubbish  of  their  original  matrix,  and  finally 
deposited  them  in  the  gulleys  and  ravines  of  the  lower 
grounds.  Hence  the  alluvial  territories  have  always  been 
the  chief  sources  of  auriferous  wealth,  and  this  circumstance 
explains  how  countries  which  at  one  time  abounded  in  gold 
have  long  since  ceased  to  be  of  importance.  For  the 
comparative  ease  with  which  the  metal  could  generally  be 
obtained  by  digging  and  washing,  and  the  greed  which 
stimulated  the  researches  of  thousands,  could  not  fail  to 
exhaust  even  the  richest  placers.  No  one  now  dreams  of 
searching  for  gold  in  the  sands  of  the  Pactolus  or  of  the 
Golden  Tagus  ;  no  modern  Argonaut  sails  to  Colchis  in 
quest  of  the  golden  fleece ;  the  fields  of  Bohemia  are  no 
longer  ransacked  by  gold- seekers  ;  and  a  like  fate  probably 
awaits  many  of  our  modern  Eldorados. 

A  marked  difference  between  the  gold  deposits  of  Australia 
and  California  deserves  to  be  noticed.  The  gold  of  Cali- 
fornia is  found  in  the  midst  of,  or  contiguous  to,  the  existing 
great  mountain  ranges,  amidst  regions  of  peaked,  jagged, 
irregular  crests,  and  upheaved  and  distorted  strata,  the 
undoubted  effects  of  internal  convulsions.  It  has  not, 
however,  selected  as  its  resting-place  the  smooth  levels  and 
hanging  slopes  of  the  contiguous  hills.  The  metal,  ground 
finer  and  finer  as  it  is  carried  forward  by  the  torrents  that 
year  after  year  tear  up  the  river-beds,  finally  settles  in  the 
form  of  fine  flakes  or  dust  along  the  banks  and  at  the 
bottoms  of  the  great  streams  of  the  country.  Hence  the 
Californian  diggers  generally  find  the  drifts  of  the  precious 
metal  in  the  strata  immediately  under  the  surface,  either 
associated  with  the  subsoil,  or  in  the  holes  or  '  pockets  '  of 
water-worn  rocks. 

In  Victoria  the  most  prolific  gold-fields  are  in  regions 
where  the  old  formations  are  pierced  by  igneous  rocks  which 
have  flowed  from  extinct  volcanoes  ;  and  some  of  the  richest 
alluvial  deposits  have  been  found  on  the  pipe-clay  bottom 
of  flat,  wide-spread  plaius,  or  settled  in  great  subterranean 
gutters,    under  broad,    elongated    slopes,   which  the    miner 


WORKS   ON   AUSTRALIAN    GOLD    MINES.  2<J5 

can  reach  only  by  sinking  his  shaft  through  stratum  after 
stratum,  from  fifty  to  three  hundred  feet  down,  before  he 
reaches  the  buried  treasure.  The  inference  necessarily  is  that 
much  of  the  gold-drift  of  Australia  is  of  an  earlier  origin  than 
the  deposits  of  California,  which  are  the  products  of  the 
existing  mountain  ranges,  and  therefore  will  be  exhausted 
in  a  comparatively  brief  period. 

In  Victoria,  not  seldom  three  distinct  auriferous  deposits, 
the  result  of  successive  upheavals  and  depressions,  occur  in 
the  same  locality ;  and  the  miner  finds,  in  the  course  of  his 
working,  a  first,  second,  and  third  bottom,  the  last  being 
always  on  the  solid  and  unmoved  palseozoic  rock,  from  which 
all  the  gold  has  been  derived. 

Rich  as  the  auriferous  drifts  of  the  deep  alluvial  deposits 
are  frequently  found  to  be,  they  must  be  within  definite 
limits,  having  been  deposited  by  currents  and  the  continuous 
action  of  waves  not  far  from  the  localities  where  the  gold 
was  originally  formed.  But  the  alluvial  gold  of  Victoria 
and  New  South  Wales  is  not  confined  to  drifts  and  gutters. 
There  are  hundreds,  probably  thousands,  of  square  miles, 
where  the  clay,  earth,  and  sand  are  impregnated  with  gold 
in  sufficient  quantities  to  pay  well  for  washing.  Besides 
these  deposits  of  incalculable  wealth,  there  are  vast  reserves 
of  gold  locked  up  in  the  great  mountain  ranges  both  of 
Victoria  and  New  South  Wales,  the  hidden  wealth  of  whicJi 
will  eventually  be  brought  to  light  by  systematic  mining. 

As  even  the  richest  auriferous  drift  would  be  comparatively 
worthless  without  the  assistance  of  water,  the  diversion  of  a 
running  stream  through  a  c placer'  is  often  one  of  the  most 
laborious  undertakings  of  the  gold-digger. 

Pliny  speaks  of  i  the  bringing  of  the  rivers  from  the 
mountains,  in  many  instances  for  a  hundred  miles,  for  the 
purpose  of  washing  the  debris,'  and  this  method  of  hydraulic 
mining  is  now  carried  on  in  California  on  a  stupendous  scale. 
Thus,  north  of  Mariposa  County,  the  thick  deposits,  often 
semi-indurated,  are  now  washed  down  by  vast  streams  of 
water  (thrown  by  the  pressure  of  a  column  of  water  of  1 50 
feet),  that  do  the  work  of  running  off  the  earth  and  gravel 
and  gathering  the  gold  in  an  incredibly  short  time. 

The   ores  of  auriferous  quartz  are  treated  in  a  different 


296  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

way  from  the  alluvial  debris.  After  having  been  crushed 
and  pulverised  by  powerful  machinery,  the  finely  powdered 
quartz  is  then  treated  with  mercury,  a  method  well  known 
to  the  ancients.  This  metal  dissolves  out  the  gold,  pro- 
ducing an  amalgam,  which,  by  straining  and  distillation, 
yields  the  gold. 


297 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

SILVER. 

Its  ancient  Discovery  —  Its  uses  among  the  luxurious  Romans — The  Mines  of 
Laurium — Silver  Mines  of  Bohemia,  Saxony,  and  Hungary — Colossal  Nuggets — 
Silver  Ores — Silver  Production  of  Europe — Mexican  Silver  Mines — The  Veta 
Madre  of  Guanaxuato — The  Conde  de  la  Valenciana — Zacatecas  and  Catorce — 
Adventures  of  a  Steam-engine — La  Bolsa  de  Dios  Padre  —  The  Conde  de  la 
Regla — Ill-fated  English  Companies — Indian  Carriers — The  Dressing  of  Silver 
Ores — Amalgamating  Process — Enormous  Production  of  Mexican  Mines — Potosi 
— Cerro  de  Pasco — G-ualgayoc — The  Mine  of  Salcedo — Hostility  of  the  Indians 
— The  Monk's  Rosary — Chilian  Mines — The  Comstock  Lode. 

LIKE  that  of  gold,  the  first,  discover y  of  silver  precedes  the 
historic  times,  and  must  no  doubt  be  sought  for  in  the 
remotest  antiquity ;  for  as  it  is  not  seldom  found  in  a  native 
state,  its  brilliancy  could  not  fail  to  attract  attention  at  a 
very  early  age.  Veins  of  silver  ore,  moreover,  not  seldom 
crop  out  on  the  surface,  a  circumstance  which  likewise 
greatly  facilitated  the  accidental  discovery  of  the  metal. 
Thus  Diodorus  relates  that  streams  of  melted  silver 
flowed  out  of  the  calcined  soil  where  some  shepherds  had 
set  fire  to  a  forest  in  the  Pyrenees.  The  cunning  Phoenician 
merchants,  who  were  trading  in  the  neighbourhood,  bought 
the  metal  for  a  trifle  from  the  natives,  who,  ignorant  of  its 
value,  gladly  exchanged  it  for  some  worthless  trinkets. 

Our  earliest  annals  show  us  silver  in  common  use  among 
the  more  polished  nations  of  antiquity,  both  for  ornamental 
purposes  and  as  a  means  of  exchange.  When  we  read  in 
the  Bible  that  Abraham  weighed  to  Ephron  the  Hittite  '  four 
hundred  shekels  of  silver,  current  money  with  the  merchant ' 
for  the  purchase  of  the  field  of  Machpelah,  where  Sarah  was 
buried,  we  cannot  possibly  doubt  that,  long  before  the 
patriarch's  time,  great  quantities  of  silver  must  have  circu- 
lated among  the  traders  of  the  East,  and  that  even  then  it 
belonged  to  the  discoveries  of  ancient  days. 


293  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Homer  describes  the  shields  and  helmets  of  his  heroes 
as  inlaid  with  silver,  and  in  Northern  Asia  silver  ornaments 
have  been  found  in  the  tumuli  of  the  Tschudi,  a  mysterious 
people  who  have  left  no  vestiges  of  their  existence  save 
their  tombs. 

The  Babylonian,  Assyrian,  and  Persian  monarchs  imposed 
large  tributes  of  silver  on  the  conquered  nations  of  Asia, 
and  at  a  later  period  the  treasures  thus  amassed  by  a  long 
line  of  despots  came  into  the  possession  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  finally  of  the  Romans,  who  absorbed  all  the 
riches  of  Carthage  and  the  East.  In  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
the  tables  of  the  wealthy  senators  groaned  under  silver 
dishes  weighing  from  one  hundred  to  five  hundred  pounds ; 
silver  statues  of  their  ancestors  decorated  their  apartments, 
and  they  not  seldom  performed  their  luxurious  ablutions  in 
baths  of  silver.  Mirrors  of  this  metal  were  in  frequent  use 
among  a  people  to  whom  the  art  of  applying  a  lustrous 
amalgam  to  the  back  of  a  plate  of  glass  was  unknown. 

The  skill  of  the  artist  not  seldom  added  an  inestimable 
value  to  the  intrinsic  worth  of  an  embossed  or  chiselled 
silver  vase,  and  Pliny  mentions  several  works  of  this  kind 
which  enjoyed  a  world-wide  celebrity. 

The  most  ancient  silver  mines  of  which  we  have  any  his- 
torical account  were  situated  in  the  mountainous  parts  of 
Chaldsea  and  in  Spain.  With  the  development  of  the  Grecian 
States,  Eastern  Europe  also  began  to  furnish  its  contingent. 
Silver  mines  were  discovered  and  worked  in  the  PanofDean 
Mountains,  between  Macedonia  and  Thrace,  in  the  islands  of 
Siphnos  and  Cyprus.  Athens  derived  a  considerable  part  of 
its  revenue  from  the  mines  of  Laurium  in  Attica.  At  first 
the  profits  derived  from  this  source  were  distributed  among 
the  citizens,  until  Themistocles  persuaded  the  general  assem- 
bly of  the  people  to  devote  them  to  the  construction  of  ships 
of  war.  The  battle  of  Salamis  was  won  by  the  galleys  built 
with  the  money  thus  obtained,  so  that  the  silver  mines 
of  Laurium  have  been  the  means  of  adding  some  of  its 
brightest  pages  to  the  history  of  Ancient  Greece. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  exhausted  or 
neglected  mines  of  the  East,  and  of  the  Iberian  peninsula, 
ceased  to  be  the  sources  from  which  silver  flowed  over  the 
world. 


EUROPEAN    SILVER    FIELDS.  299 

The  riches  amassed  during  ages  of  civilisation  were  now- 
scattered  among  barbarous  hordes,  or  buried  in  the  ruins  of 
cities  destroyed  by  fire ;  and  as  no  new  influx  replaced  the 
losses  caused  by  accident  or  the  slow  wear  of  time,  the  pre- 
cious metals  gradually  became  more  rare  and  of  increasing 
value,  until  Germany  began  to  open  a  new  era  in  mining 
history,  and  for  a  time  to  take  the  lead  among  the  silver- 
producing  countries  of  the  globe.  The  first  discovery  of  this 
metal  in  Bohemia  dates  back  as  far  as  the  seventh  century ; 
and  in  the  tenth  the  Rammelsberg  in  the  Hartz  Mountains 
began  to  yield  its  still  unexhausted  treasures.  In  the  twelfth 
century  the  silver  mines  of  Saxony  and  Hungary  were  dis- 
covered, and  at  a  much  later  period  those  of  Kongsberg  in 
Norway. 

Many  of  these  deposits  are  remarkable  for  the  richness  of 
their  ores,  and  for  the  large  masses  of  native  or  crystallised 
silver  which  they  have  sometimes  yielded.  From  the  mine 
of  Himmelsfiirst,  near  Freiberg  in  Saxony,  lumps  or  nuggets 
weighing  above  a  hundred  pounds  have  more  than  once  been 
extracted.  The  largest  single  block  ever  known  was  dis- 
covered at  Schneeberg,  in  the  Saxon  Erzgebirge,  in  the  year 
1477.  It  consisted  of  silver-glance  and  native  silver,  and 
measured  no  less  than  seven  yards  in  length  and  three  and 
a  half  in  width.  On  hearing  of  this  magnificent  prize,  Duke 
Albrecht  of  Saxony  visited  the  mine,  where  he  eat  his  dinner 
from  the  block.  Agricola  Bermannus  relates  that,  during 
the  repast,  he  exclaimed,  *  Frederick  is  a  wealthy  and  power- 
ful emperor,  but  he  has  never  dined  from  a  table  such  as 
this.'  The  subsequent  smelting  of  this  wonderful  mass  pro- 
duced 40,000  pounds  of  solid  silver. 

Large  nuggets  of  solid  silver  have  likewise  been  found  at 
Kongsberg.  A  block  weighing  560  pounds,  which  was  dis- 
covered in  1666,  is  still  preserved  as  a  curiosity  in  the  Copen- 
hagen Museum ;  and  as  a  convincing  proof  that  the  ancient 
riches  of  these  northern  mines  are  not  yet  exhausted,  a  still 
larger  block,  weighing  750  pounds,  was  disinterred  as  late  as 
the  year  1834. 

Though  native  silver  is  found  in  many  localities,  our  chief 
supply  of  the  precious  metal  is  derived  from  the  ores  in  which 
it  is  found  combined  with  other  substances,  such  as  silver- 


300  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

glance  (sulphuret  of  silver)  ;  antimonial  silver;  red-silver 
(sulphuret  of  silver  and  antimony) ;  horn  silver  (chloride  of 
silver),  &c.  A  considerable  quantity  is  likewise  obtained  as  an 
accessory  product  from  the  lead  mines,  by  separating  it  from 
the  galena  or  lead-glance,  which  usually  contains  a  small 
percentage  of  silver. 

At  present  the  mines  of  the  Austro- Hungarian  Empire, 
which  in  the  year  1851  produced  122,950  marks  of  silver, 
are  the  richest  in  Europe.  In  Bohemia  the  mines  of  Birken- 
berg,  near  Przibram,  yield  on  an  average  40,000  marks  a  year, 
considerably  more  than  the  celebrated  mine  of  Schemnitz  in 
Hungary,  which  in  the  year  1854  produced  26,064  marks. 

Prussia  obtains  from  her  mines  in  the  Hartz  Mountains  in 
Nassau  and  the  county  of  Mansfeld  about  100,000  marks ; 
and  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  which,  in  proportion  to  its 
small  extent,  holds  the  first  rank  among  the  silver-producing 
countries  of  Europe,  produces  annually  about  53,000  marks. 
In  Great  Britain,  silver  is  accessorily  obtained  from  the  lead 
mines,  to  an  amount  of  about  80,000  marks  per  annum. 
Trance  produces  26,800  marks,  Sweden  and  Norway  6,000 
marks,  and  Italy  4,500 ;  while  Spain,  which  in  ancient  times 
enriched  Tyre  and  Carthage  with  the  rich  produce  of  her 
silver  mines,  yields  at  present  but  an  insignificant  quantity. 

On  adding  together  the  various  sums  above  mentioned,  we 
find  that,  exclusively  of  the  Russian  Empire,  which  obtains 
the  greater  part  of  its  silver  (about  65,000  marks  a  year) 
from  the  Altai  Mountains  in  Siberia,  the  whole  annual  pro- 
duction of  Europe  may  be  estimated  at  about  400,000  marks. 

This  quantity,  large  as  it  is,  sinks  into  comparative  insig- 
nificance when  compared  with  the  enormous  masses  of  silver 
with  which,  ever  since  their  discovery  and  conquest  by  Cortez 
and  Pizarro,  Mexico  and  Peru  have  enriched  the  world. 

The  Mexican  silver  mines,  which  deserve  a  particular  notice 
from  the  immensity  of  their  produce  and  the  interesting 
details  with  which  their  history  abounds,  are  mostly  situated 
on  the  back  or  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Cordillera  of 
Anahuac  at  elevations  which  sometimes  approach  the  line  of 
perpetual  snow.  But  little  is  known  of  their  first  history. 
The  lodes  of  Tasco  and  Pachuca  appear  to  have  been  worked 
soon  after  the  conquest,  and  in  1548,  twenty-eight  years 


MEXICAN    SILVER   MINES.  301 

after  the  death  of  Montezuma,  the  mines  of  Zacatecas  were 
opened,  though  situated  above  400  miles  from  the  capital. 
Muleteers  travelling  from  Mexico  to  Zacatecas  are  said  to 
have  discovered  the  silver  mines  of  Guanaxuato. 

Many  of  my  readers  will  no  doubt  be  surprised  to  hear 
that  the  Mexican  silver  ores  are  generally  poor.  On  an 
average  they  contain  only  from  three  to  four  ounces  of  silver 
per  cwt.,  much  less  than  the  ores  of  Annaberg,  Marienberg, 
and  other  districts  of  Saxony.  Their  comparative  poverty  is, 
however,  amply  redeemed  by  their  abundance  and  the  facility 
with  which  they  are  worked. 

After  these  preliminary  remarks  I  will  now  briefly  describe 
the  chief  Mexican  silver  mines.  The  Sierra  de  Santa  Rosa, 
a  group  of  porphyritic  hills,  rises  in  the  centre  of  the  province 
of  Guanaxuato.  Partly  arid  and  partly  covered  with  the 
evergreen  oak,  it  attains  an  absolute  height  of  from  8,000  to 
9,000  feet ;  but,  as  the  neighbouring  plain  is  nearly  6,000  feet 
above  the  sea,  it  hardly  attracts  the  notice  of  the  traveller 
accustomed  to  the  vast  proportions  of  the  Andes. 

The  southern  slope  of  this  porphyritic  range  is  crossed  by 
the  famous  Veta  Madre  of  Guanaxuato,  the  richest  silver  lode 
as  yet  discovered  in  Mexico.  This  enormous  vein,  which 
traverses  the  country  for  upwards  of  eight  miles,  with  an 
average  width  of  from  120  to  135  feet,  is,  however,  not  pro- 
ductive throughout  its  whole  extent,  but  the  ore  occurs  in 
branches  and  bunches,  leaving  intermediate  spaces  of  dead 
and  unproductive  ground.  Among  the  numerous  mines  that 
have  been  opened  along  its  course,  the  Valenciana  exhibited, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  almost  unparal- 
leled example  of  a  mine  which,  during  a  period  of  more 
than  forty  years,  never  yielded  its  proprietors  less  than  an 
annual  income  of  from  80,000?.  to  120,000/.  The  part  of 
the  Veta  in  which  it  is  situated  had  remained  unexplored  till 
1760,  when  Obregon,  a  young  Spaniard,  began  to  work  it, 
with  the  assistance  of  some  friends  who  advanced  him  the 
necessary  capital.  In  the  year  1766  the  diggings  had  reached 
a  depth  of  240  feet,  and  the  expenses  were  far  greater  than 
the  proceeds.  But  Obregon  clung  with  the  passionate  ardour 
of  a  gambler  to  the  hazardous  enterprise  on  which  he  had 
staked  all  his  hopes  of  fortune.     In  1767  he  entered  into 


302  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

partnership  with,  a  small  shopkeeper,  Otero,  who  was  destined 
soon  to  share  the  fabulous  riches  that  were  about  to  reward 
his  perseverance.  Already  in  the  following  year  the  produce 
of  the  mine  considerably  increased,  and  in  1771  it  began  to 
yield  enormous  masses  of  sulphuret  of  silver.  From  that 
time  till  1804,  when  Humboldt  left  Mexico,  it  never  pro- 
duced less  than  560,000£.  worth  of  silver  annually,  and  the 
net  profits  of  the  partners  amounted  in  some  years  to  240,000L 

Under  the  title  of  Conde  de  la  Valenciana,  Obregon  main- 
tained the  simple  habits  and  the  urbanity  of  character  which 
had  distinguished  him  in  poverty.  When  he  began  to  work 
his  mine,  the  goats  were  feeding  on  the  spot  where  ten  years 
later  a  thriving  town  of  8,000  souls  had  started  into  existence. 
Guanaxuato,  the  capital  of  the  State  of  the  same  name,  is 
indebted  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  richest  silver  mines  in 
the  world  for  its  origin  and  prosperity.  Inclosed  in  a  narrow 
valley,  its  houses  rise  in  terraces  one  above  the  other ;  and 
the  contrast  of  the  magnificent  abodes  of  the  rich  mining 
proprietors  with  the  miserable  huts  of  their  dependants  adds 
to  the  singular  appearance  of  the  place.  The  Mexican  miner 
is,  however,  not  so  poor  as  his  wretched  dwelling  might  lead 
us  to  suppose.  In  some  measure  he  shares  the  fortunes  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  mines,  as  he  is  entitled  to  part  of  the  ore ; 
so  that  when  the  vein  is  more  than  usually  productive  his 
weekly  profits  may  amount  to  as  much  as  a  hundred  dollars. 
Yet  he  never  thinks  of  purchasing  a  piece  of  land,  or  of  re- 
pairing his  hut,  when  favoured  by  fortune  ;  but  foolishly 
squanders  his  money  in  drinking  and  gambling,  and  seldom 
returns  to  his  work  before  his  last  farthing  has  been  spent. 

The  population  of  Guanaxuato  naturally  fluctuates  with 
the  prosperity  of  the  mines.  In  1806  and  1807,  when  they 
were  in  the  highest  state  of  activity,  it  amounted  to  90,000 
souls  ;  during  the  wars  of  independence  it  sank  to  20,000, 
but  since  then  it  has  again  risen  to  60,000. 

Next  to  the  mines  of  Guanaxuato  those  of  Zacatecas  are 
distinguished  by  their  richness.  They  are  likewise  situated 
on  the  great  central  plateau  of  the  Cordillera  in  a  wild  moun- 
tain region  whose  forbidding  aspect  forms  a  strange  contrast 
to  the  riches  concealed  under  its  surface.  In  1826  the 
United  Mexican  and  the  Bolanos  Company   undertook  the 


MINES  OF  POTOSI   AND    TAMPICO.  303 

working  of  these  mines ;  and  two  years  after,  the  latter  had 
the  good  fortune  to  find  an  exceedingly  rich  vein,  which  up 
to  the  year  1834  produced  no  less  than  1,680,316  marks  of 
silver. 

Before  1770  the  populous  district  of  Alamos  de  Catorce  in 
the  State  of  San  Luis  de  Potosi,  was  still  a  complete  desert. 
About  this  time  a  free  negro,  named  Milagros,  who  made 
a  scant  livelihood  as  an  itinerant  musician,  having  lost  his 
way,  was  obliged  to  pass  the  night  in  the  forest.  On  the 
following  morning  he  found  a  few  drops  of  silver  on  the  spot 
where  he  had  made  a  fire,  and,  on  a  closer  examination,  dis- 
covered the  rich  cropping  out  of  a  bed  of  argentiferous  ores. 
He  lost  no  time  in  establishing  the  right  of  property  which 
he  derived  from  his  discovery,  and  opened  the  shaft  Milagros, 
which,  in  a  few  years,  made  him  a  wealthy  man. 

Soon  after  Don  Barnabe  de  Zepeda  discovered  the  chief 
vein  of  Catorce — the  Veta  Madre — which  continued  to  be 
worked  with  great  success  until  the  revolution.  This  event 
having  proved  as  destructive  to  the  draining  machines  of 
Catorce  as  to  those  of  Guanaxuato  and  Zacatecas,  a  contract 
was  made  with  an  English  house  for  the  furnishing  of  a 
steam-engine,  the  first  ever  seen  in  Mexico.  It  was  landed 
at  Tampico  in  May  1822,  but  arrived  at  Alamos  six  months 
later,  as  the  carts  which  dragged  the  heavy  piece  of  machinery 
broke  down  every  moment  on  the  wretched  roads  which  lead 
to  the  central  plateau  on  which  the  mines  are  situated.  This, 
however,  was  but  the  prelude  of  new  difficulties  ;  for  as  the 
neighbouring  forests  could  not  furnish  wood  fit  for  the  pur- 
pose, it  was  necessary  to  order  iron  pump-tubes  in  England, 
which  did  not  arrive  before  1826,  so  that  the  engine  could 
not  be  set  to  work  until  four  years  had  passed  after  its  arrival 
in  Mexico.  The  history  of  Catorce  affords  many  remarkable 
examples  of  good  fortune ;  but  as  most  of  the  rich  mineros 
(mine-proprietors)  were  men  of  low  birth  and  without  educa- 
tion, they  squandered  their  treasures  as  fast  as  they  acquired 
them.  Medellin,  the  proprietor  of  the  mine  Dolores,  once 
spent  36,000  dollars  on  a  christening  party  ;  and  at  times, 
when  the  share  of  the  hewers  amounted  to  one-third  of  the 
extracted  ores,  a  common  miner  would  stake  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars  on  the  issue  of  a  cock-fight. 


304  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Among  the  first  settlers  at  Catorce  was  an  ecclesiastic 
named  Mores,  who  bought  for  700  dollars  a  newly-opened 
mine,  which  received  the  significant  name  of  '  La  Bolsa  de 
Dios  Padre/  or  '  God  the  Father's  Money-Bag.' 

Never  was  a  small  capital  more  profitably  invested,  for,  at 
a  depth  of  about  twenty  yards,  a  deposit  of  such  enormous 
richness  was  discovered  that  in  less  than  three  years  the 
profits  of  Padre  Mores  amounted  to  three  millions  and  a  half 
of  dollars. 

The  mines  of  Pachuca,  Real  del  Monte,  and  Moran  began 
to  be  worked  soon  after  the  conquest.  The  Veta  de  la  Bis- 
cayna,  the  chief  vein  of  the  district,  yielded  immense  profits 
from  the  sixteenth  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when,  inconsequence  of  insufficient  drainage,  the  mines  were 
drowned.  An  enterprising  hidalgo,  Don  Jose  Bustamente, 
then  began  to  drive  a  draining  gallery,  7,000  feet  long, 
which,  however,  was  only  finished  after  his  death  by  his 
partner,  Don  Pedro  Terreros,  a  merchant  of  Queretaro.  Its 
immense  cost  was  amply  repaid,  for  Terreros  extracted  no 
less  than  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  from  the  mine,  and  was 
ennobled  under  the  title  of  Conde  de  la  Regla.  His  liberality 
was  worthy  of  his  wealth,  for  besides  a  gift  of  two  ships  of 
the  line — one  of  them  of  112  guns — to  King  Charles  III.  of 
Spain,  he  lent  the  court  of  Madrid  a  million  of  dollars,  which, 
it  is  almost  superfluous  to  remark,  were  never  repaid.  He 
built  the  enormous  factories  of  La  Regla  at  a  cost  of  more 
than  400,000Z.,  and  left  his  children  a  property  rivalling  that 
of  the  Conde  de  la  Valenciana.  Since  1774,  however,  the 
profits  of  the  Biscayna,  which  was  now  worked  300  feet  below 
the  adit,  began  to  diminish ;  for  though  it  still  continued  to 
yield  enormous  quantities  of  ore,  the  water  flowed  in  so 
abundantly  that  twenty-eight  baritels,*  each  requiring  forty 
horses,  and  worked  at  an  expense  of  2,000Z.  per  week,  was 
incapable  of  mastering  it.  At  the  death  of  the  old  Conde 
the  works  were  abandoned,  until  1791,  when  his  heirs  once 
more  set  all  the  baritels  in  motion  ;  but  the  proceeds  not 
covering  the  expenses,  the  works  were  again  abandoned. 
In  the  year  1824,  when  the  frenzy  of  mining  speculations 

*  A  very  primitive  contrivance  for  raising  the  water  in  skin  bags. 


MEXICAN   METHODS    OF   MINING.  305 

was  at  its  height,  a  company  was  formed  in  London,  with  a 
capital  of  400,000Z.,  for  the  purpose  of  working  the  mine  of 
Tlalpujahua,  in  the  State  of  Mejoacan,  which  had  long  since 
been  abandoned.  Without  any  accurate  information,  a  num- 
ber of  supervisors  and  workmen  were  sent  to  the  spot  in  1825, 
when  they  found  all  the  mines  under  water.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  this  rather  unpromising  state  of  affairs,  the  company,  not 
satisfied  with  its  first  acquisitions,  entered  into  new  engage- 
ments, so  that  at  the  end  of  1825  it  had  contracted  for  no 
less  than  eighty  mines,  for  which  it  bound  itself  to  pay  the 
proprietors  annuities  amounting  to  more  than  50,000  dollars 
during  the  first  three  years.  Operations  were  now  begun  in 
many  places  at  once,  but  every  one  of  them  ended  in  disap- 
pointment; and  in  1828  the  company,  after  spending  every 
farthing  of  its  capital,  vanished  into  '  airy  nothing,'  abandon- 
ing the  mines  to  their  original  proprietors,  and  leaving  the 
ill-fated  shareholders  to  mourn  over  their  credulity  and  folly. 

Subsequently  another  English  company  undertook  the 
working  of  the  mines  of  Real  del  Monte,  and  after  spending  no 
less  than  15,381,633  dollars,  against  a  produce  of  10,481,475 
dollars,  was  dissolved  in  1848.  Mr.  Buchan  now  undertook  the 
management  for  a  Mexican  company,  and  almost  immediately 
struck  the  great  Rosario  vein,  which  opened  a  long  career  of 
prosperity,  and  yielded  a  profit  of  a  million  of  dollars  in  1867. 
Every  fortnight  a  conducta,  or  escort,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
armed  men*  conveys  the  silver,  in  bars  of  seventy  pounds, 
inclosed  in  an  iron  safe,  to  the  capital. 

It  would  be  vain  to  seek  in  the  Mexican  mines  for  the 
scientific  arrangement  which  is  to  be  found  in  most  of  the 
English  or  German  subterranean  workings.  One  of  their 
chief  faults  consists  in  a  want  of  communication  between 
their  various  parts,  so  that  they  resemble  those  ill-arranged 
houses  where,  to  go  from  one  room  to  another,  one  is 
obliged  to  traverse  long  and  crooked  passages.  Hence  the 
impossibility  of  introducing  in  most  of  the  mines  an  econo- 
mical transport  by  means  of  tramroads  and  waggons,  and 
hence  also  the  necessity  of  conveying  the  ore  to  the  surface 
by  human   labour.     The  native  Indians,  however,  are  ad- 

*  Illustrated  London  News,  No.  1477,  Saturday,  April  11,  1868. 
X 


306 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


mirable  carriers,  for  they  will  climb  steep  ladders,  -with  240 
to  380  pounds,  and  perform  this  hard  work  for  six  hours 
consecutively.  Their  muscular  strength  seemed  truly  as- 
tonishing to  Humboldt,  who,  though  having  no  weight  to 
carry  but  his  own,  felt  himself  utterly  exhausted  after  ascend- 
ing from  a  deep  mine. 

Most  of  the  Mexican  silver  is  extracted  from  the  ores  by 
the  process  of  amalgamation.  For  this  purpose  the  ore  is 
first  crushed  either  by  rollers,  or,  more  generally,  by  stamps, 
called  in  Mexico  molinos,  which  in  principle  resemble  those 
used  in  the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall,  but  are  not  so  powerful, 
and  are  worked  either  by  water-power  or  by  mules. 


STAMPING  MILL. 


The  crushed  ores  are  then  conveyed  to  the  arrastres,  or 
grinding-mills,  which  are  usually  arranged  in  rows  in  a 
large  gallery  or  shed.  The  ore,  having  been  brought  into  a 
finely  divided  state,  is  next  allowed  to  run  out  of  the  arrastre 
into  shallow  tanks  or  reservoirs,  where  it  remains  exposed 
to  the  sun  until  it  has  the  appearance  of  thick  mud,  and  in 
this  state  the  process  is  proceeded  with.  The  lama,  as  it 
is  called,  or  slime,  is  now  laid  out  on  the  patio,  or  amalgama- 
tion floor  (which  is  in  some  places  boarded,  and  in  others 
paved  with  flat  stones),  in  large  masses  called  tortas,  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  a  foot  thick ;  and 
so  extensive  are  the  floors  that  a  large  number  of  these 
tortas  are  seen  in  progress  at  the  same  time.  When  the 
ore  has  been  laid  out  in  masses  on  the  patio,  the  operations 
necessary  to  produce  the  chemical  changes  commence.     The 


METHODS   OF   DECOMPOSING    ORES. 


307 


first  ingredient  introduced  is  salt,  in  the  proportion  of  fifty 
pounds  to  every  ton  of  ore,  and  a  number  of  mules  are  made 
to  tread  it,  so  that  it  may  be  dissolved  in  the  water  and 
intimately  blended  with  the  mass.  On  the  following  day 
another  ingredient  is  introduced,  called  in  Mexico  magistral. 
It  is  common  copper-pyrites,  or  sulphide  of  copper  and  iron, 
pulverised  and  calcined,  which  converts  it  into  a  sulphate. 
About  twenty-five  pounds  of  this  magistral  are  added  for 
every  ton  of  ore  in  the  torta,  and  the  mules  are  again  put  in, 


GRINDING  MILL, 


and  tread  the  mass  for  several  hours.  Chemical  action  now 
commences,  and  new  combinations  between  the  decomposed 
mineral  substances  are  in  progress.  Quicksilver  is  then 
introduced,  being  spread  over  the  torta  in  very  small 
particles,  which  is  effected  by  passing  it  through  a  coarse 
cloth.  The  quantity  required  is  six  times  the  estimated 
weight  of  the  silver  contained  in  the  ore. 

The  quicksilver  being  spread  over  the  surface,  the  mules 
are  once  more  put  in,  and  tread  the  whole  until  it  is  well 
mixed.     Great  skill  is  now  required  to  watch  the  progress 


x  2 


308  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

of  the  amalgamation,  and  to  decide  whether  any  one  of  the 
ingredients  that  have  been  added  to  the  ore  is  in  deficiency 
or  excess. 

The  amalgamating  process  being  at  length  ended,  the 
mass  is  washed  in  large  vats,  through  which  streams  of  water 
are  made  to  pass,  so  as  to  drive  away  the  lighter  particles  of 
the  mud  and  to  leave  the  heavy  amalgam  at  the  bottom  of  the 
tub.  After  being  strained  through  the  strong  canvas  bottom 
of  a  leathern  bag,  in  order  to  separate  the  superfluous 
mercury,  the  amalgam  is  finally  heated  in  large  retorts, 
when  the  quicksilver  is  volatilised  and  the  pure  silver  remains 
behind.  As  a  considerable  quantity  of  mercury  is  thus 
lost,  this  metal  has  always  had  a  great  influence  on  the 
working  of  the  Mexican  mines.  When,  in  times  of  war,  the 
importation  of  quicksilver  from  Europe  was  stopped,  thus 
causing  a  considerable  increase  in  its  price,  the  ores 
accumulated  in  the  magazines,  as  their  poverty  made  it 
impossible  to  meet  the  additional  expense ;  and  then  it  not 
unfrequently  happened  that  proprietors,  possessing  ores  to 
the  amount  of  several  millions  of  dollars,  were  unable  to  pay 
their  current  expenses.  In  the  last  century,  the  Mexican 
mines  annually  required  sixteen  thousand  hundredweight  of 
mercury,  which  was  furnished  chiefly  by  the  mines  of 
Almaden,  Huancavelica,  and  Idria.  The  sale  of  mercury  to 
the  various  mining  proprietors  was  a  Government  monopoly. 

The  quantity  of  silver  produced  by  the  Mexican  mines  in 
110  years,  ending  with  the  first  year  of  the  present  century, 
amounted  to  about  ninety-eight  millions  of  pounds  troy,  and 
the  total  value  of  the  gold  and  silver  produced  from  1689  to 
1803  to  about  285  millions  of  pounds  sterling. 

The  production  was  most  abundant  in  the  years  1805, 
1806,  and  1809,  when  it  reached  the  sum  of  twenty-six  and 
twenty- seven  millions  of  dollars.  It  then  fell  enormously 
during  the  revolutionary  wars;  but  the  English  mining  mania 
of  1824  having  furnished  the  necessary  capital  for  the  re-open- 
ing of  a  large  number  of  mines,  it  again  gradually  rose,  and 
even  reached  during  some  years  the  rate  of  its  most  flourish- 
ing period.  But  it  never  amounted  to  one-third  of  the  value 
which  is  now  annually  extracted  from  our  coal  mines ;  and 
while  the  latter  open  new  and  unbounded  sources  of  wealth 


THE    MINES    OF    POTOSI.  309 

by  the  activity  they  communicate  to  numberless  branches 
of  industry,  Mexico — a  prey  to  bigotry,  ignorance,  anarchy, 
and  sloth — remains,  in  spite  of  her  silver  mines,  as  poor  and 
as  barbarous  as  ever. 

In  South  America,  the  mines  of  Potosi,  Cerro  di  Pasco, 
and  Gualgayoc,  are  the  most  renowned  for  their  richness. 
In  1545,  an  Indian,  while  pursuing  some  deer  along  the 
declivity  of  a  steep  mountain,  took  hold  of  a  shrub,  the 
roots  of  which,  giving  way,  brought  to  view  a  mass  of  silver, 
the  first  discovery  of  the  riches  which  have  rendered  Potosi 
the  proverbial  symbol  of  wealth.  The  Indian,  wisely  con-, 
cealing  his  good  fortune,  repeatedly  visited  the  mine,  but 
his  improved  circumstances  having  been  remarked  by 
one  of  his  countrymen,  he  was  obliged  to  take  him  into  the 
secret.  Unfortunately  a  quarrel  ensued,  and  the  faithless 
confidant  betrayed  it  to  his  master,  Don  Jose  Villaroel,  a 
Spaniard,  whose  extraordinary  success  in  working  the  mines 
soon  drew  the  attention  of  all  America  to  the  wild  Cerro  di 
Potosi.  A  town  of  100,000  inhabitants  soon  rose  in  the 
desert,  in  spite  of  the  wintry  inclemency  of  the  climate 
(12,842  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea)  and  of  the  fabulous 
prices  of  provisions,  as  all  the  necessaries  of  life  had  to  be 
conveyed  from  a  vast  distance  over  the  pathless  mountains. 

But  if  living  in  Potosi  was  extravagantly  dear,  Mammon 
took  care  to  provide  his  votaries  with  the  necessary  means  ; 
for  the  treasures  which  were  here  extracted  from  the  bosom 
of  the  earth  seem  rather  to  belong  to  the  world  of  Oriental 
romance  than  to  that  of  sober  reality.  According  to  Hum- 
boldt, the  mountain  of  Potosi,  whose  topmost  mine  is  situ- 
ated 15,384  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea — considerably 
higher  than  the  eternal  snows  of  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc 
—produced  from  1545  to  1803  no  less  than  230,000,000?., 
besides  the  silver  which  was  not  registered,  or  had  been 
carried  off  by  fraud,  and  which  may  probably  have  amounted 
to  as  much  again.  During  the  period  of  their  greatest 
prosperity — from  1585  to  1606 — when  they  annually  yielded 
882,000  marks  of  silver,  15,000  Indians  were  occupied  in  the 
mines  of  Potosi.  At  present,  however,  their  produce,  though 
still  considerable,  has  diminished  to  one- eighth,  and  the 
population  of  the  town  has  shrunk  in  the  same  proportion. 


310  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

The  ores  were  at  first  reduced  in  a  very  imperfect  manner, 
according  to  the  old  Indian  method.  On  the  mountains 
surrounding  the  town  of  Potosi,  wherever  the  wind  blew 
with  sufficient  force,  portable  smelting  ovens  of  clay,  in  which 
numerous  holes  kept  up  a  strong  current  of  air,  received 
alternate  layers  of  ore  and  charcoal,  and  the  lively  blast 
soon  separated  the  metal  from  the  dross.  The  first  travellers 
in  the  Cordillera  describe  with  enthusiasm  the  magnificent 
aspect  of  more  than  6,000  fires,  which  every  evening  blazed 
on  the  mountain  crests  of  Potosi.  Amalgamation  was  first 
introduced  about  the  year  1571. 

On  the  bleak  Puna,  or  high  table-land  between  the 
parallel  chains  of  the  Cordillera  and  the  Andes,  is  situated 
the  famous  mining  town  of  Pasco.  Surrounded  by  a 
crescent  of  steep  and  naked  rocks,  its  straggling  buildings 
extend  over  an  uneven  ground,  bordered  by  small  marshes 
and  lagunes.  The  shivering  traveller,  descending  from  the 
windy  heights,  is  at  first  agreeably  surprised  by  the  sight 
of  a  large  town  in  the  midst  of  these  dreary  solitudes ;  but 
a  nearer  inspection  of  its  narrow  crooked  streets,  and  of 
its  miserable  huts,  with  here  and  there  a  stately  mansion, 
soon  dissipates  the  fancies  he  may  have  formed  at  a  distance. 

The  wild,  forbidding  aspect  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  the 
rigorous  climate,  only  a  short  day's  journey  from  the  love- 
liest valleys,  prove  the  greatness  of  the  subterranean  trea- 
sures which  could  induce  so  large  a  population  to  settle  in 
so  harsh  a  region. 

The  mines  of  Pasco,  like  those  of  Potosi,  were  discovered, 
it  is  said,  by  an  Indian  shepherd,  who,  accidentally  lighting 
a  fire  where  the  ores  cropped  out,  found  silver  among  the 
ashes.  There  are  two  chief  lodes,  with  numerous  branches, 
so  that  the  whole  neighbourhood  may  be  considered  as 
resting  on  a  subterranean  network  of  silver.  The  entrances 
to  most  of  the  mines  are  situated  in  the  town  itself;  and, 
as  every  proprietor  thinks  only  of  his  present  profits,  they 
are  worked  in  so  slovenly  a  manner  that  they  frequently  fall 
in.  Tschudi,  who  visited  some  of  the  deepest  of  them,  always 
thought  himself  extremely  fortunate  when,  after  descending 
on  half-rotten  steps  or  by  mouldering  ropes  and  rusty  chains, 
he  returned  again  to  daylight  without  accident,  and  mentions 


THE   MINES    OF   PASCO.  311 

an  instance  where  three  hundred  workmen  were  buried  in 
the  ruins  of  a  mine,  in  which  the  necessary  props  had  been 
shamefully  neglected. 

When  a  mine  is  very  productive,  it  is  said  to  be  in  '  boy  a ; ' 
and  when  such  periods  of  affluence  take  place  in  several  of  the 
mines  at  once,  the  population  of  Pasco  sometimes  increases 
to  double  or  treble  the  usual  number.  The  Peruvian  miners 
are  no  less  dishonest  than  their  fellow- workmen  in  Mexico, 
and  equally  cunning  in  robbing  their  employers.  On  the  other 
hand  their  patience  and  perseverance  are  unrivalled.  Satisfied 
with  the  coarsest  food,  and  with  a  still  more  miserable  hut, 
they  undergo  an  amount  of  bodily  toil  which  no  European 
could  endure.  Their  only  solace  is  the  chewing  of  Coca,  the 
mysterious  plant  to  which  they  ascribe  such  wonderfully 
stimulating  powers,  and  which  has  at  length  begun  to  awaken 
the  curiosity  of  European  chemists  and  naturalists.*  When 
a  '  boya '  raises  their  earnings  to  a  considerable  sum,  they 
spend  it  in  drunkenness,  and  never  think  of  returning  to 
their  work  until  their  last  farthing  or  their  last  credit  is 
exhausted.  The  mineros,  or  proprietors  of  the  mines,  are 
almost  equally  uncivilised.  Passionately  devoted  to  gam- 
bling and  mining  speculations,  they  are  commonly  deeply  in 
debt  to  the  capitalists  of  Lima,  who  advance  them  money  at 
the  rate  of  100  and  120  per  cent. ;  and  when  a  '  boya  '  favours 
them,  this  sudden  increase  of  wealth  is  merely  the  prelude 
of  new  embarrassment. 

According  to  law,  all  the  produce  of  the  silver  mines  should 
be  sent  to  the  Callana  or  Government  smelting-house ;  but 
in  order  to  avoid  the  heavy  duties  levied  by  the  State,  vast 
quantities  are  smuggled  to  the  coast.  The  annual  produce 
registered  at  the  Callana  amounts  to  about  300,000  marks, 
but  perhaps  as  much  again  is  exported  in  a  clandestine 
manner.  Besides  the  mines  of  Pasco,  Peru  possesses  many 
others  of  considerable  value,  situated  chiefly  in  the  provinces 
of  Pataz,  Huamanchuco,  Caxamarca,  and  Gualgayoc. 

The  famous  Cerro  de  San  Fernando  de  Gualgayoc,  fourteen 
leagues  from  the  town  of  Caxamarca,  is  an  isolated  mountain 
traversed  by  numberless  veins  of  silver.    Its  summit  is  sharply 

*  The  seventeenth  chapter  of  '  The  Tropical  World '  is  devoted  to  the  Ery- 
throxylon  Coca. 


^ 


312  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

serrated  by  a  multitude  of  tower-like  or  pyramidal  pinnacles, 
and  its  steep  sides  are  not  only  pierced  by  several  hundred 
galleries  for  the  extraction  of  the  ores,  but  also  by  many  natural 
openings  or  caverns,  through  which  the  dark  blue  sky  is 
visible  to  the  spectator  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 
The  singularity  of  aspect  is  increased  by  the  numberless 
huts,  sticking  like  nests  to  the  slopes  of  the  fortress-like 
mountain  wherever  a  ledge  allowed  them  to  be  constructed. 
During  the  first  thirty  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  mines 
from  1771  to  1802,  they  yielded  considerably  more  than 
thirty-two  millions  of  dollars,  and  are  still  very  productive. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  silver  mines  of  Peru  was  that  of 
Salcedo,  renowned  alike  for  its  richness  and  for  the  tragical 
end  of  its  possessor.  Don  Jose  Salcedo,  a  poor  Spaniard  who 
had  settled  in  Puno,  fell  in  love  with  an  Indian  girl,  whose 
mother,  on  condition  of  his  marrying  her  daughter,  revealed 
to  him  the  existence  of  a  rich  silver  lode.  The  fame  of 
Salcedo's  wealth  spread  far  and  wide,  and  excited  the  envy  of 
Count  Lemos,  the  viceroy,  who  sought  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  mine.  As  the  good-natured  and  liberal  Salcedo  had 
become  very  popular  among  the  Indians,  this  circumstance 
was  made  use  of  by  the  rapacious  viceroy  to  accuse  him  of 
fomenting  among  the  natives  a  spirit  of  rebellion  against 
the  Spanish  yoke.  He  was  cast  into  a  dungeon,  and  the 
obsequious  judges  condemned  him  to  death. 

While  in  prison  Salcedo  begged  the  viceroy  to  submit  the 
case  to  the  high  court  of  justice  at  Madrid,  and  to  allow  him 
to  appeal  to  the  mercy  of  the  king.  At  the  same  time  he 
offered,  as  an  acknowledgment  for  this  fa,vour,  to  give  the 
viceroy  daily  a  bar  of  silver,  from  the  day  the  ship  left  the 
port  of  Callao  to  its  return  from  Europe.  If  we  consider  that 
in  those  times  a  journey  from  Peru  to  Spain  and  back  required 
at  least  from  twelve  to  sixteen  months,  we  may  form  some  idea 
of  Salcedo's  wealth.  The  viceroy,  however,  would  not  listen  to 
the  proposal,  the  very  brilliancy  of  which  probably  inflamed 
still  more  his  cupidity,  and  he  ordered  Salcedo  to  be  hung. 
But  his  cruelty  met  with  the  disappointment  it  deserved ;  for 
when  it  became  known  that  nothing  could  save  Salcedo,  his 
Indian  friends  destroyed  the  works  of  the  mine,  and  so  care- 
fully  concealed  the  entrance  that   it  has  remained  undis- 


SECKET   WORKING   OF   MINES.  313 

covered  to  the  present  day.  After  performing  this  work  of 
retribution,  the  Indians  dispersed,  and  neither  promises  nor 
tortures  could  wring  the  secret  from  those  that  were  caught. 

Though  the  mines  of  Peru  have  yielded  and  still  yield  vast 
quantities  of  silver,  yet  probably  only  a  few  of  the  richest  lodes 
are  worked ;  for  the  Indians,  to  whom  other  lodes  are  well 
known,  will  never  reveal  their  existence  to  the  white  men. 
They  know  by  experience  how  small  a  benefit  they  derive 
from  the  mines,  which  are  to  them  but  a  source  of  severe 
labour.  Thus  they  prefer  leaving  the  treasures  of  the  earth 
undisturbed,  or  use  them  only  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity. 
In  many  provinces  undoubted  proofs  exist  that  the  richest 
silver  mines  are  secretly  worked  by  the  Indians,  but  all  efforts 
to  discover  them  have  proved  fruitless. 

A  Franciscan  monk  at  Huancayo,  a  desperate  gambler  and 
almost  always  in  want  of  money,  had  by  his  friendly  manners 
gained  the  goodwill  of  the  Indians.  One  day,  after  a  severe 
loss,  he  bitterly  complained  of  his  distress  to  one  of  his  Indian 
friends.  After  some  hesitation  the  man  promised  to  assist  him, 
and  brought  him  on  the  following  evening  a  bag  full  of  rich 
silver  ores.  This  gift  he  repeated  several  times.  But  the 
monk,  greedy  after  more,  begged  the  Indian  to  show  him  the 
mine — a  request  which,  after  repeated  refusals,  was  at  length 
reluctantly  granted.  On  the  appointed  night,  the  Indian,  with 
two  of  his  comrades,  came  to  the  Franciscan's  dwelling,  took 
him  on  his  shoulders,  after  first  carefully  blindfolding  him,  and 
carried  him,  alternately  with  his  friends,  a  distance  of  several 
leagues  into  the  mountains.  Here  they  halted,  and  the  Fran- 
ciscan's bandage  having  been  removed,  he  found  himself  in  a 
subterranean  gallery,  where  the  richest  silver  ores  sparkled 
from  the  walls.  After  feasting  on  the  grateful  sight  and 
filling  his  pockets,  he  was  carried  back  again  in  the  same  way. 
On  his  return  he  secretly  loosened  the  string  of  his  rosary, 
and  let  a  bead  drop  from  time  to  time,  hoping  by  this  means 
to  be  able  to  find  the  mine.  But,  on  the  following  morning, 
as  he  was  about  to  reconnoitre,  his  Indian  friend  knocked 
at  the  door,  and  saying,  '  Father,  thou  hast  lost  thy  rosary  !  ' 
brought  him  a  whole  handful  of  the  loose  beads. 

In  1850  the  mines  in  the  province  of  Copiapo  in  Chili 
yielded  335,000  marks  of  silver,  nearly  as  much  as  the  entire 


314  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

production  of  Europe,  and  the  State  of  Nevada  in  North 
America  bids  fair  to  rival  the  riches  of  Peru.  The  ores 
are  found  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  in  the 
region  of  the  Carson  Kiver,  and  have  since  1859  attracted  a 
stream  of  emigrants  to  the  Washoe  Mine.  At  the  present 
time  they  annually  produce  about  16,000,000  dollars  of 
silver,  chiefly  from  the  Comstock  Lode,  which  may  be  ranked 
among  the  richest  mineral  deposits  ever  encountered  in  the 
history  of  mining  enterprise. 

Thus  we  find  veins  and  deposits  of  silver  ore  scattered 
throughout  almost  the  entire  length  of  America ;  and  no 
doubt  many  an  unknown  Potosi  still  lies  concealed  in  the 
lonely  ravines  or  on  the  bleak  sides  of  the  Andes,  awaiting 
but  some  fortunate  discoverer  to  astonish  the  world  with  its 
treasures. 


315 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

COPPER. 

Its  valuable  Qualities— English  Copper  Mines— Their  comparatively  recent  Im- 
portance— Dreary  Aspect  of  the  Cornwall  Copper  Country — Botallack — Sub- 
marine Copper  Mines— A  Blind  Miner— Swansea—  Smelting  Process— The  Mines 
of  Fahlun— Their  Ancient  Eecords— Alten  Fjord— Drontheim— The  Mines  of 
Eivaas— The  Mines  of  Mansfeldt— Lake  Superior— Mysterious  Discoveries— 
Burra  Burra — Eemarkable  Instances  of  Good  Fortune  in  Copper  Mining. 

COPPER  derives  its  name  from  the  island  of  Cyprus,  where 
it  was  extensively  mined  and  smelted  by  the  Greeks ; 
but  its  first  discovery  is  of  much  more  ancient  date,  and 
loses  itself  in  the  darkness  of  the  prehistoric  ages.  Weapons 
and  tools  of  bronze — its  alloy  with  tin — have  been  found 
both  in  the  tumuli  of  extinct  nations  and  in  the  lacustrine 
dwellings  of  the  Swiss  lakes,  erected  by  an  unknown  people 
in  unknown  times.  Among  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  and 
Etrurians,  copper  was  in  immemorial  use,  and  the  ancient 
Celtic  nations  fought  their  battles  with  copper  or  brazen 
swords,  and  felled  the  trees  for  the  construction  of  their  rude 
hovels  with  axes  of  the  same  metal. 

As  in  many  parts  of  the  world  native  copper  is  found 
scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  large  lumps  or 
masses,  it  naturally  attracted  the  attention  of  barbarous 
tribes  much  sooner  than  iron,  which  very  rarely  occurs  in  the 
native  state  ;  and  some  fortunate  chance  or  lucky  experiment 
having  shown  that,  when  rendered  malleable  by  heat,  it  could 
easily  be  hammered  into  any  convenient  shape,  it  soon 
became,  and  has  ever  since  remained,  one  of  the  most  valuable 
metals.  Forming  important  compounds  with  tin  (bronze) 
and  zinc  (brass),  remarkably  incorrodible  as  compared  with 
iron,  and  nearly  as  tenacious  in  structure,  but  not  so  hard, 
it  is  recommended  by  its  qualities  for  a  variety  of  uses,  and 


316  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

its  consumption  everywhere  increases  with  the  progress  of 
civilization  and  the  extension  of  commerce.  Fortunately 
copper  is  of  such  common  occurrence  that  a  mere  enumeration 
of  the  localities  where  it  is  found  would  swell  into  a  Ions: 
and  tedious  list ;  it  is  enough  to  state  that  rich  copper  mines 
exist  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  and  promise  an 
inexhaustible  supply  to  the  most  distant  generations. 

In  Europe  England  is  the  chief  copper-producing  country. 
Rich  mines  have  been  discovered  and  worked  in  Anglesey, 
Shropshire,  Cheshire,  and  Staffordshire,  in  the  counties  of 
Wicklow,  Cork,  and  Waterford;  but  by  far  the  largest 
quantity  is  supplied  by  Cornwall  and  Devon. 

1  The  history  of  Cornish  copper,'  says  Mr.  Warner,  c  is  as 
a  mushroom  of  last  night  compared  with  that  of  tin.  Lying 
deep  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  it  would  be  concealed 
from  the  inquiries  of  human  industry  till  such  time  as 
natural  philosophy  had  made  considerable  progress,  and 
the  mechanical  arts  had  reached  their  present  state  of  per- 
fection; for  notwithstanding  tin  in  Cornwall  seldom  runs 
deeper  than  fifty  fathoms  below  the  surface,  good  copper  is 
seldom  found  at  a  less  depth  than  that.  Accordingly  we  do 
not  find  that  any  regular  researches  were  made  for  copper 
ores  in  Cornwall  till  the  latter  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  a  few  adventurers  worked  in  an  imperfect  manner  some 
insignificant  mines.  Half  a  century  afterwards,  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  though  the  product  of  the  mines  would 
naturally  be  greater  than  before,  yet  little  advantage  seems 
to  have  been  derived  to  the  country  at  large  from  the 
working  of  its  copper.  Writers  hint  at  the  mystery  made  of 
its  uses  by  the  merchants.  In  the  next  reign,  however,  all 
mystery  was  dispersed,  the  mines  were  inspected,  their  value 
determined,  and  a  system  was  introduced  of  working  them  to 
greater  advantage.' 

Yet  so  wretched  was  the  knowledge  of  mineralogy  before 
1712  that  the  yellow  copper  ore,  at  present  so  highly  valued, 
was  considered  of  no  importance  and  cast  aside  as  worthless 
rubbish.  Since  the  reign  of  George  I.  there  has  been  so 
much  improvement  that,  next  to  iron  and  coal,  copper  is 
now  the  most  important  of  our  mineral  products. 

The  chief  Cornish  copper  mines  are  situated  in  the  districts 


COENISH    COPPER    MINES. 


317 


of  Camborne,  Eedruth,  and  Gwennap,  which  are  about  the 
dreariest  of  all  British  wildernesses.  Few  trees  are  to  be 
seen,  few  fields;  furze  and  wild  berries  form  the  chief 
vegetation  of  the  niggard  soil.  Blocks  upon  blocks  of  stone 
are  scattered  over  these  desolate  moorlands,  that  have  been 
excavated,  dug  into  hillocks,  disturbed  and  turned  over  and 
over  again,  sometimes  by  the  primeval  stream- works  of  the 
old  men  or  ancient  miners,  sometimes  by  more  modern  labour 
in  search  of  metallic  wealth.  Off  the  roads  these  districts 
are  utterly  impervious  on  wheels  or  on  horseback,  and  the 


THE  BOTALLACK  MINE,   CORNWALL. 


traveller  can  only  walk,  or  rather  flounder,  over  them  by 
jumping  from  patch  to  patch  of  firmer  land.  Yet  this 
scene  of  apparent  poverty  is  in  reality  one  of  the  very 
richest  portions  of  the  kingdom,  and  conceals  more  wealth 
beneath  its  sterile  surface  than  has  ever  been  produced  by  a 
similar  extent  of  the  fairest  fields  and  pastures. 

The  bluff  promontory  of  Botallack,  not  far  from  Cape 
Cornwall,  conceals  in  its  rocky  entrails  a  copper  mine,  the 
most  singularly  placed,  probably,  of  any  mine  in  the  world, 
for  nowhere  do  the  triumphs  of  industry  appear  in  more 
picturesque  connection  with  the  magnificent  scenery  of  the 


318  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

ocean.  The  metalliferous  veins  running  along  the  cliffs  into 
the  sea  vainly  concealed  themselves  beneath  the  swelling 
surge ;  in  vain  a  huge  barrier  of  rocks  seemed  to  render  them 
inaccessible  to  the  miner,  as  soon  as  it  became  known  that 
here,  buried  under  the  ocean,  lay  treasures  that  would 
amply  repay  the  cost  and  labour  expended,  and  the  danger 
encountered  in  seeking  for  them. 

To  those  who  stand  below  the  cliff  and  look  up  from  the 
sea,  the  view  is  fearfully  grand,  and  remarkable  for  the  com- 
bination of  the  wonders  of  art  with  the  wonders  of  nature. 
The  separate  parts  of  an  enormous  steam-engine  had  to  be 
lowered  200  feet  down  the  almost  perpendicular  precipice, 
and  a  tram-road  runs  right  up  the  face  of  the  cliff.  Lofty 
chimneys,  pouring  out  dense  volumes  of  black  smoke,  are  seen 
perched  on  the  verge  and  even  on  the  ledges  of  a  tremendous 
precipice,  and  the  miner  has  built  his  hut  over  the  sea-bird's 
roost.  All  these  constructions  seem  at  the  mercy  of  every 
storm,  and  to  the  beholder  from  beneath  they  almost  appear 
suspended  in  the  air  and  tottering  to  their  fall. 

On  one  side  of  the  cliff  tall  ladders  scale  the  rock ;  but  he 
must  have  strong  nerves  who  can  tread  them  fearlessly,  the 
sea  roaring  under  him  and  flinging  its  raging  spray  after 
him  as  he  ascends,  while  in  other  parts  mules  and  their 
riders  may  be  seen  trotting  up  and  down  the  rocky  tracks 
which  the  pedestrian  visitor  would  scarcely  dare  to  pass.  A 
strange  and  restless  life  pervades  a  scene  which  nature 
seemed  to  have  for  ever  removed  far  from  the  busy  haunts  of 
man. 

A  visit  to  this  remarkable  mine  leaves  an  ineradicable 
impression  on  the  mind.  Descending  ladder  after  ladder,  and 
passing  on  from  gallery  to  gallery,  stepping  over  rough  stones 
and  awkward  holes,  now  stooping  down  under  masses  of  over- 
hanging rock,  and  now  climbing  over  stony  projections 
beneath  your  feet,  you  are  at  length  informed  that  you  are 
vertically  120  feet  below  the  sea-level,  and  horizontally  480 
feet  under  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  or  be}^ond  low-water  mark, 
while  still  deeper  down  human  beings  are  hewing  the  hard 
rock.  The  brine  oozes  through  the  metallic  ceiling,  and  the 
sound  of  distant  waters  falls  faintly  upon  the  ear. 

There  are  other  submarine  mines  in  the  neighbourhood  of 


THE    BOTALLACK   MINE.  319 

Botallack.  In  Little  Bounds  and  Wheal  Cock  the  hardihood 
of  the  miners  tempted  them  to  follow  the  ore  upwards,  even 
to  the  sea ;  but  the  openings  made  were  very  small,  and,  the 
rock  being  extremely  hard,  a  covering  of  wood  and  cement 
in  the  former,  and  a  small  plug  in  the  latter  mine,  sufficed  to 
exclude  the  water,  and  protected  the  workmen  from  the  fatal 
consequences  of  their  rashness.  '  In  all  these,  and  in  Wheal 
Edward  and  Levant,'  says  Mr.  Henwood,*  '  I  have  heard  the 
dashing  of  the  billows  and  the  grating  of  the  shingle  overhead 
even  in  calm  weather.  I  was  once,  however,  underground  in 
Wheal  Cock  during  a  storm.  At  the  extremity  of  the  level 
seaward,  some  eighty  or  one  hundred  fathoms  from  the  shore, 
little  could  be  heard  of  its  effects,  except  at  intervals,  when 
the  reflux  of  some  unusually  large  wave  projected  a  pebble 
outward,  bounding  and  rolling  over  the  rocky  bottom.  But 
when  standing  beneath  the  base  of  the  cliff,  and  in  that  part 
of  the  mine  where  but  nine  feet  of  the  rock  stood  between  us 
and  the  ocean,  the  heavy  roll  of  the  large  boulders,  the  cease- 
less grinding  of  the  pebbles,  the  fierce  thundering  of  the 
billows,  with  the  crackling  and  boiling  as  they  rebounded, 
placed  a  tempest  in  its  most  appalling  form  too  vividly  before 
me  ever  to  be  forgotten.  More  than  once,  doubting  the  pro- 
tection of  our  working  shield,  we  retreated  in  affright,  and 
it  was  only  after  repeated  trials  that  we  had  confidence  to 
pursue  our  investigations.' 

It  seems  that  at  times  of  great  storms,  even  the  miners, 
accustomed  for  years  to  these  submarine  caverns,  have  been 
terrified  by  the  roaring  of  the  sea.  They  have  heard,  as  it 
were,  mountain  dashing  against  mountain,  or  as  if  all  the 
artillery  of  England  was  booming  over  their  heads.  Yet  their 
roof  of  rock,  thin  as  it  is  in  some  parts,  has  hitherto  shielded 
them  against  the  sea,  and  will  no  doubt  continue  to  defend 
them  against  it.  On  leaving  these  wonderful  submarine 
excavations,  the  scenery  of  the  upper  world  appears  doubly 
beautiful. 

The  '  Traveller  Underground'  f  tells  us  a  remarkable  story 
of  a  blind  man  who  once  worked  in  Botallack,  and  continued 
his  perilous  toils  underground  for  a  long  period,  from  the 

*  '  Transactions  of  the  Koyal  Geological  Society  of  Cornwall/  vol.  v.  p.  11. 
f  'Cornwall,  its  Mines  and  Miners.'     London,  1860. 


320  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

dread  of  being  compelled  to  accept  parish  relief.  By  the 
fruits  of  his  labour  he  supported  a  family  of  nine  children, 
and  such  was  his  marvellous  recollection  of  every  turning  and 
winding  of  the  mine  that  he  became  a  guide  to  his  fellow- 
labourers  if  by  any  accident  their  lights  were  extinguished. 
On  being  discharged  from  this  employment  (and  they  must 
truly  have  had  rocky  hearts  who  did  discharge  him),  this 
poor  blind  man  soon  afterwards  met  his  death  in  a  melan- 
choly manner.  Being  engaged  as  attendant  on  some  brick- 
layers, who  were  building  a  house  at  St.  Ives,  he  had  to 
carry  the  hods  of  mortar  up  to  the  scaffolding.  Stepping 
too  far  back  from  a  platform,  he  fell,  and  died  almost  im- 
mediately. 

The  chief  copper  ores  of  Cornwall  are  the  bisulphuret  (con- 
taining nearly  equal  parts  of  copper,  sulphur,  and  iron),  the 
sulphuret,  or  grey  ore  of  the  miners  (containing  more  than  79 
per  cent,  of  copper),  and  the  black  ore,  an  almost  pure  oxide  ; 
but  when  extracted  from  the  mine,  these  ores  are  generally 
so  mixed  up  with  impurities  that  their  average  contents  do 
not  amount  to  more  than  2  J  or  3^  per  cent.  They  have  con- 
sequently to  undergo  various  processes  of  picking,  crushing, 
sorting,  and  washing,  before  they  are  rendered  saleable  and 
fit  for  export  to  the  smelting  works  of  Swansea,  the  grand 
emporium  for  copper.  The  reason  why  they  are  not  smelted 
on  the  spot  is  that  the  fuel  needed  is  more  bulky  than  the  ore, 
and  it  is  cheaper  to  bring  the  copper  of  Cornwall  to  the  coal  of 
South  Wales  than  to  take  the  coal  to  the  copper.  In  Swansea 
— but  half  a  century  ago  a  mere  hamlet,  and  now  a  flourish- 
ing town  of  36,000  inhabitants — we  find  all  the  conditions 
needed  for  the  development  of  a  vast  industry.  Coal  and 
water-power  in  inexhaustible  abundance,  excellent  roads 
and  railroads,  the  nearness  of  the  sea,  canals  which  allow 
vessels  of  considerable  burden  to  load  and  unload  close  to  the 
smelting  huts,  so  that  their  high  masts  rise  alongside  of  the 
towering  chimneys — these  are  the  natural  and  artificial 
advantages  to  which  Swansea  owes  its  rank  as  the  first 
copper  manufacturing  town  in  the  world. 

For,  not  satisfied  with  the  abundant  ores  of  Great  Britain, 
its  smelting  works  seek  their  materials  in  almost  every  copper- 
producing  country  of  the  globe.     The  rich  ores  of  Chili  and 


PROCESS    OF    SMELTING    COPPER.  S21 

Australia,  of  Cuba  and  North  America,  of  Norway  and 
Tuscany,  all  find  their  way  to  Swansea,  which  re-exports 
the  metal  to  every  part  of  the  world. 

Vivian's  works,  the  most  important  of  the  establishments 
of  Swansea,  are  situated  in  a  vale  a  couple  of  miles  from  the 
town.  A  maritime  canal  enables  brigs  to  sail  at  high  tide 
up  to  the  smelting  furnaces,  whence  a  second  canal  leads  to 
the  coal-pits,  ascending  the  hill  by  a  succession  of  locks. 
Although  in  the  building  of  this  huge  factory  not  a  thought 
was  given  to  grace  or  beauty  of  form,  utility  being  the  sole 
aim  in  view,  still  its  vast  extent  leaves  on  the  mind  a  certain 
impression  of  grandeur. 

The  whole  smelting  process  is  carried  on  in  reverberatory 
furnaces.*  In  order  to  disengage  the  sulphur  and  other 
volatile  impurities,  the  ore  is  first  roasted  in  at  least  sixteen 
of  these  powerful  ovens,  each  of  which  holds  forty  hundred- 
weight, and  performs  its  office  in  six  hours.  The  smoke  of 
all  these  furnaces  collects  in  a  huge  chimney,  which,  after 
climbing  the  hill  for  about  six  hundred  feet,  ends  in  a  mighty 
column  two  hundred  feet  high.  The  roasted  ores  are  then 
mixed  with  a  certain  proportion  of  fluor  spar,  and  smelted  in 
twenty  smaller  reverberatory  furnaces.  A  ton  is  introduced 
at  a  time,  and  in  each  oven  seven  tons  can  be  smelted  in 
twenty-four  hours.  It  would  lead  me  too  far  were  I  to  enter 
into  more  minute  details.  I  will  therefore  briefly  state  that 
the  copper  is  still  obliged  to  pass  four  times  through  differently 
constructed  furnaces  before  it  is  sufficiently  pure  to  be  rolled 
into  sheets  or  to  be  granulated,  a  condition  in  which  it  is  used 
for  the  fabrication  of  brass,  as  it  then  presents  more  surface  to 
the  action  of  the  zinc,  and  combines  with  it  more  readily.  To 
produce  this  granulation,  the  metal  is  poured  into  a  large  ladle 
pierced  with  holes,  and  placed  above  a  cistern  filled  with  water, 
which  must  be  hot  or  cold  according  to  the  form  of  the  grains 
required.  When  it  is  hot,  round  grains  are  obtained,  analo- 
gous to  lead  shot,  and  the  copper  in  this  state  is  called  bean 
shot.     When  the  melted  copper  falls  into  cold  water  per- 

*  A  reverberatory  furnace  is  a  iurnace  in  which  intense  heat  is  produced  by  a 
flame  which,  while  passing  through  a  furnace,  reverberates  from  the  roof  over  tbe 
substance  to  be  fused,  the  draught  being  created  by  means  of  a  lofty  chimney. 

Y 


322  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

petually  renewed,  the  granulations  are  irregular,  thin,  and 
ramified,  constituting  feathered  shot. 

The  process  of  preparing  the  copper  does  not  present  the 
bustle  and  activity  nor  the  glare  and  brilliancy  of  an  ironwork. 
The  smoke  and  vapour  disengaged  from  the  ore  are  of  the  most 
noxious  and  disagreeable  kind,  and  impart  to  the  whole  neigh- 
bourhood a  singularly  gloomy  character.  The  stunted  vege- 
tation is  so  kept  down  by  it  that  there  are  no  trees,  and, 
instead  of  grass,  a  dry,  yellow,  sickly  growth  of  chamomile 
barely  covers  the  ground.  When  viewed  from  a  neighbouring 
eminence  at  night,  the  livid  glare  from  the  chimneys,  the 
rolling  white  clouds  of  smoke  which  fill  up  the  valley  beneath, 
the  desolate -looking  heaps  of  slag,  and  the  pungent  sulphurous 
vapours  remind  the  spectator  of 

*  The  dismal  situation,  waste  and  wild, 
The  dungeon  horrible  on  all  sides  round,' 

where  Satan  lay  weltering  after  his  fall  from  heaven. 

After  England,  Sweden,  Germany,  and  Russia  take  the 
lead  among  the  copper-producing  countries  of  Europe. 

The  mines  of  Fahlun  in  Dalecarlia  are  no  less  remarkable 
for  their  picturesque  appearance  than  the  celebrated  iron 
mines  of  Dannemora  in  the  same  province.  A  vast  pit, 
1,200  feet  long,  600  feet  broad,  and  above  180  feet  deep, 
with  precipitous,  sometimes  vertical,  and  occasionally  even 
overhanging  walls,  opens  before  the  spectator,  who  might 
fancy  himself  standing  on  the  brink  of  an  enormous  crater. 
c  The  aspect  of  this  deep  chasm,'  says  Professor  Haussmann,* 
'  affords  a  desolate  picture  of  ruin  caused  by  improvidence  and 
waste,  as  it  owes  its  origin  to  the  successive  fallings  in  of  sub- 
terranean excavations  carelessly  widened  and  left  without 
sufficient  supports.  From  the  vast  mounds  of  rubbish  accu- 
mulated at  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  remnants  of  ancient  shafts, 
formed  of  thick  beams  of  wood,  are  seen  protruding,  but 
these  show  only  a  part  of  the  devastation  produced  by  the 
great  falling  in  which  took  place  in  the  year  1678.  On  the 
northern  side  of  the  pit  is  a  broad  and  convenient  wooden 
staircase,  by  which  not  only  the  miners,  but  also  the  horses 
used  for  working  the  subterranean  machinery,   descend  to 

*  'Geological  Travels  through  Sweden.' 


THE    MINES    OF    FAHLUN.  323 

the  bottom.  Thence  it  gradually  winds  underground  to  a 
depth  of  177  fathoms.' 

As  is  generally  the  case  in  Sweden,  the  ore  of  Fahlun  forms 
considerable  masses,  the  chief  being  a  vast  reniform  lump 
1,200  feet  long  and  600  broad  at  its  upper  surface,  and  gra- 
dually narrowing  as  it  descends.  Near  this  gigantic  stock  are 
situated  similar  deposits,  which  though  of  smaller  dimensions 
are  still  very  considerable.  From  the  copper  pyrites  being  de- 
posited chiefly  on  the  circumference  or  the  outer  shell  of  these 
reniform  masses,  which  are  themselves  of  extremely  irregular 
outline,  the  mining  operations  are  carried  on  with  great  diffi- 
culty, and  exhibit  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  crooked  and  winding 
galleries,  situated  at  various  depths,  and  supported  by  pillars 
or  sometimes  by  walls — a  peculiarity  which  explains  the 
successive  fallings  in  that  have  formed  the  enormous  pit  of 
Fahlun.  The  mine  has  been  worked  from  time  immemorial, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  known  even  before  the  Christian  era. 
The  oldest  document  extant  bears  the  date  of  the  year  1347, 
and  contains  the  privileges  granted  to  the  proprietors  of  the 
mine  by  King  Olaus  Smek ;  but  still  more  ancient  documents 
are  mentioned,  among  others  a  purchase-deed  of  the  year  1200. 
As  the  ores  are  poor,  their  abundance  alone  renders  the  work- 
ing of  the  mine  profitable  ;  but  Fahlun  has  seen  its  best  days 
and  is  doomed  to  a  gradual  decline.  During  its  greatest 
prosperity  it  is  said  to  have  yielded  5,000  tons  of  copper 
annually,  but  in  1866  it  furnished  no  more  that  600  tons, 
or  about  one-third  of  the  entire  production  of  Sweden. 

In  1719  a  body,  preserved  from  corruption  by  the  vitriolic 
water  with  which  it  had  been  saturated,  was  found  in  an 
abandoned  part  of  the  Fahlun  mines.  When  it  had  been 
brought  up  to  the  surface,  the  whole  neighbourhood  flocked 
together  to  see  it ;  but  nobody  could  recognise  a  lost  friend 
or  kinsman  in  its  young  and  handsome  features.  At  length 
an  old  woman,  more  than  80  years  of  age,  approached  with 
tottering  steps,  and  casting  a  glance  on  the  corpse,  uttered  a 
piercing  shriek  and  fell  senseless  on  the  ground.  She  had 
instantly  recognised  her  affianced  lover,  who  had  mysteriously 
disappeared  more  than  sixty  years  previously,  but  whose  image 
she  still  bore  in  her  faithful  memory.  As  he  was  not  em- 
ployed in  the  mines,  no  search  had  been  made  for  him  under- 


324  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

ground  at  the  time.  Most  probably  he  had  fallen,  by  some 
accident,  into  one  of  the  numerous  crevices  by  which  the 
surface  of  the  mines  is  traversed.  Thus  the  tottering  woman, 
weighed  down  with  the  double  burden  of  infirmity  and  age, 
saw  once  more  the  face  of  her  lover  as  she  had  looked  upon 
it  in  the  days  of  her  youth. 

In  the  sister  kingdom  of  Norway,  which  produces  annually 
about  480  tons  of  copper,  the  mines  of  the  Alt  en  Fjord  are 
remarkable  for  their  high  northern  situation  (in  70°  N.  Lat., 
beyond  the  Arctic  Circle).  A  piece  of  copper  ore  found  by 
a  Lap  woman  in  1825  fell  accidentally  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Crowe,  an  English  merchant  in  Hammerfest,  who 
immediately  took  measures  for  obtaining  a  privilege  from 
Government  for  the  working  of  a  mine.  All  preliminaries 
being  arranged,  he  set  off  for  London,  where  he  founded  a 
company  with  a  capital  of  75,000?.  When  Marmier  visited 
the  Alten  Fjord  in  1842,  more  than  1,100  workmen  were  em- 
ployed in  these  most  northerly  mining  works  of  the  world  ; 
but  probably  the  number  has  since  decreased. 

Although  Drontheim  or  Tronyem  is  renowned  in  Norse 
history  as  the  seat  of  many  kings,  yet  the  town  seems  as  if 
built  but  yesterday.  Eepeated  conflagrations  have  often  re- 
duced its  wooden  houses  to  ashes.  The  choir  of  the  ancient 
cathedral,  the  finest  edifice  ever  built  in  so  high  a  latitude, 
is  the  only  remaining  memorial  of  old  Tronyem;  but  the 
modern  city  is  remarkably  clean  and  well  built,  and  gives 
evidence,  by  its  outward  appearance,  of  the  prosperity  of  its 
citizens,  which  is  partly  owing  to  the  fish-trade  and  partly  to 
the  neighbouring  copper-mines  of  Eoraas.  The  tall  chimneys 
of  the  smelting  huts  and  other  manufactories  founded  on 
the  mineral  riches  of  the  country  show  that  the  spirit  of 
trade  is  perfectly  awake  in  the  old  capital  of  Saint  Olaus,  and 
that  the  abode  of  the  ancient  sea-kings  is  none  the  worse 
for  having  abandoned  piracy  for  the  more  homely  pursuits  of 
modern  commerce.  The  copper  ores,  which  were  first  dis- 
covered in  1644,  occur  in  the  Eoraas  Mountains  in  extensive 
veins.  The  entrance,  which  resembles  the  mouth  of  a  cave 
and  leads  into  the  mine  by  a  gradual  descent,  is  so  broad 
that  carts  laden  with  ore  and  drawn  by  horses  can  freely 
pass  in  and  out.    When  Professor  Haussmann,  of  Gottin^en, 


GERMAN    COPPER    MINES.  325 

visited  the  mine,  long  stalactites  of  ice  hung  from  the  roof 
of  the  entrance  and  covered  its  rngged  walls  with  crystal 
drapery.  The  lights  of  the  numerous  workmen  who  opened 
the  march  made  the  ice  glitter  with  all  the  colours  of  the 
rainbow,  and  then,  as  they  went  onward,  illuminated  the  broad 
galleries,  propped  by  mighty  pillars,  and  branching  into 
gloomy  recesses.  At  length  they  halted,  and  all  at  once,  on  a 
given  signal,  the  brilliant  illumination  was  changed  into  the 
deepest  darkness.  A  deathlike  stillness  now  reigned  in  the 
vault,  when  suddenly  a  flash  of  lightning  blazed  through  the 
gloom,  a  loud  clap  of  thunder  instantly  followed,  and,  with 
crash  on  crash,  the  explosions  of  many  charges  of  blasting 
powder  shook  the  w^alls  of  the  neighbouring  galleries.  After 
the  last  shot  was  fired,  the  torches  were  relit,  and  joyously 
exchanging  the  usual  salutation  of  German  miners  :  '  Gliick 
auf !  '*  the  company  moved  on.  c  I  cannot  find  words,'  says  the 
Professor,  in  whose  honour  the  impressive  scene  had  been 
arranged,  *  to  express  the  pleasure  I  felt  at  this  cordial  recep- 
tion given  me  in  the  high  north  by  men  unknown  to  me  a 
few  days  since.  It  confirmed  the  experience  I  had  already 
so  often  made  before,  that  probably  no  profession  so  soon 
produces  a  friendly  and  intimate  connexion  between  strangers 
as  that  of  the  miner.' 

The  copper  production  of  Germany  is  about  equal  in 
amount  to  that  of  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms.  The  Kam- 
melsberg,t  near  Goslar  in  the  Hartz,  which  has  been  worked 
ever  since  the  year  968,  is  probably  the  oldest  mine  in 
Europe.  The  famous  copper  mines  of  the  county  of  Mans- 
feldt  in  Prussia  afford  a  striking  example  of  the  success 
obtainable  in  mining  operations  by  perseverance  and  a  wise 
economy.  The  whole  thickness  of  the  cupriferous  bed  of 
bituminous  shale  is  no  more  than  from  eight  to  sixteen 
inches;  but  as  the  ore,  though  poor,  contains  a  small  quan- 
tity of  silver,  this  circumstance,  assisted  by  good  manage- 
ment and  the  application  of  science,  has  not  only  rendered  it 
possible  to  work  the  mines  for  many  centuries,  but  to  render 
them  so  nourishing  that  in  1852  they  produced  1,350  tons  of 
copper  and  31,800  marks  of  silver,  leaving  a  net  profit  of 

*  '  Good  luck  upwards  ! '  or  '  A  happy  return  to  daylight.'         f  See  p.  248. 


326  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

more  than  20,000Z.  The  hewers  are  obliged  to  perform  their 
labour  in  galleries  not  more  than  twenty-two  or  twenty-eight 
inches  high,  the  narrowest  limits  within  which  a  man  can 
possibly  move  and  work.  The  boys  who  transport  the  ore 
slide  or  creep  with  a  truly  wonderful  rapidity  along  the  floor, 
dragging  after  them,  by  means  of  a  sling  attached  to  their 
foot,  a  waggon  loaded  with  as  much  as  five  hundredweight  of 
ore.  The  hewer's  wages  for  seven  hours  of  this  hard  work 
are  no  more  than  two  shillings  ;  yet  the  miners  look  very 
healthy  and  cheerful,  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  wonderful 
effects  of  habit. 

The  vast  empire  of  Russia  produces  about  5,000  tons  of 
copper  annually,  chiefly  from  the  mines  of  the  Ural,  belonging 
to  Prince  Demidoff ;  but  a  large  proportion  is  furnished  by 
the  Asiatic  mines  of  the  Altai  and  of  Nertschinsk  in  Trans- 
baikalia. New  deposits  have  lately  been  discovered  in  the 
land  of  the  Kirghise,  near  the  Irtysch ;  and,  as  the  ores  are 
exceedingly  rich,  and  coal  is  found  near  them,  they  will,  no 
doubt,  become  valuable  in  time. 

During  the  last  twenty  years  America  has  far  exceeded 
Europe  in  the  production  of  copper.  The  inexhaustible  mines 
of  Chili  extend  along  the  whole  coast  of  the  republic,  and 
are  generally  situated  within  a  convenient  distance  from  the 
sea  and  near  the  best  ports  of  the  Pacific,  such  as  Caldera, 
Coquimbo,  and  Valparaiso.  Originally  the  ores  were  all 
sent  to  Europe  to  be  smelted  ;  but  since  1865  the  discovery 
of  coal  near  various  parts  of  the  coast  has  encouraged  the 
establishment  of  numerous  smelting  furnaces,  so  that  Chili 
now  exports  no  less  than  from  40,000  to  45,000  tons  of 
metallic  copper,  besides  furnishing  large  quantities  of  ore  to 
the  smelting  works  of  Swansea. 

After  Chili  no  country  has  made  such  rapid  strides  in 
copper-mining  as  the  United  States.  The  primeval  forests 
of  Northern  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  would  probably  still  be 
the  undisputed  domain  of  the  Indian  hunter  if  the  mineral 
treasures  of  the  soil  had  not  been  a  prize  too  valuable  to 
escape  the  notice  of  our  wealth-seeking  age.  Soon  after 
the  first  settlement  of  the  French  in  Canada  some  bold 
adventurers  had  indeed  penetrated  as  far  as  the  distant 
shores  of  Lake  Superior,  and  given  wonderful  accounts  of 


ANCIENT   AMERICAN    COPPER   MINES.  327 

the  large  masses  of  copper  which  they  had  seen  scat- 
tered over  the  country;  but  the  want  of  all  means  of 
communication  hindered  for  a  long  time  the  advance  of  the 
miner. 

The  Chippeways,  who  for  centuries  had  occupied  the  banks 
of  the  lake,  where,  like  all  other  Indian  tribes,  they  spent  their 
time  in  hunting  and  fishing,  never  thought  of  availing  them- 
selves of  the  mineral  riches  of  their  territory.  They  indeed 
picked  up  now  and  then  some  pieces  of  copper,  and  sold  them 
as  curiosities  to  the  fur-dealers  with  whom  they  traded ;  but 
they  were  still  far  too  uncivilized  to  seek  in  the  neighbouring 
hills  for  deposits  of  the  valuable  metal.  Their  traditions  give 
no  account  of  their  first  settlement  in  the  country ;  they 
believed  themselves  to  be  aboriginals.  Thus,  when  at  length 
the  land  came  to  be  geologically  surveyed,  the  discovery  of 
extensive  prehistoric  mining  works  created  no  small  astonish- 
ment. These  relics  of  an  unknown  people,  whose  existence 
and  disappearance  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  enigmas 
of  ancient  American  history,  are  chiefly  situated  on  the  hill- 
crests  of  Isle  Eoyale  and  in  the  Ontanagon  district,  where 
they  may  be  traced  for  miles.  Trees,  many  hundred  years 
old,  now  grow  in  the  hollows  laboriously  excavated  by  that 
extinct  race  in  the  hard  rock  with  tools  of  stone  or  copper. 
Shafts,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  deep,  sunk  in  the  hardest  green- 
stone, have  been  discovered  after  felling  the  trees  and  re- 
moving the  rubbish  which,  in  the  course  of  time,  had  been 
accumulated  in  the  cavities.  In  many  the  old  tools  were 
found  which  served  to  excavate  them — stone  hammers  of 
various  sizes,  or  chisels  of  artificially  hardened  copper.  On  the 
hill  behind  the  Minnesota  Pit  a  mass  of  copper  several  tons 
in  weight  was  found  placed  on  wooden  rollers,  which  proved 
that  those  unknown  miners  must  have  possessed  a  consider- 
able mechanical  knowledge,  without  which  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  remove  such  heavy  masses.  In  some  galleries 
copper  blocks  were  discovered  from  which  pieces  had  been 
chiselled  off,  and  the  whole  of  the  works  gave  proofs  of  a  skill 
and  persevering  industry  quite  foreign  to  the  unsettled  habits 
of  the  wild  and  indolent  race  of  hunters  which,  as  far  as 
memory  reached,  had  occupied  these  distant  regions. 

Although  the  expeditions  of  General  Cass  in  1819  and  of 


328  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Major  Long  in  1823  had  drawn  public  attention  to  the  copper 
of  Lake  Superior,  still  twenty  years  more  passed  before  they 
became  the  object  of  mining  speculations,  which  at  once 
rose  to  a  feverish  height.  Numerous  companies  were  started 
in  1843,  and  mines  were  opened  in  many  hundred  places  at 
once.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  copper  mania  was 
disappointment  inmost  cases,  and  in  1847  the  greater  number 
of  the  mines,  which  had  been  opened  with  the  most  extrava- 
gant expectations,  were  abandoned.  A  few  companies  only 
withstood  the  crisis,  and  ultimately  proved  so  remarkably 
successful  as  fully  to  retrieve  the  lost  credit  of  the  copper 
country,  the  annual  yield  of  which  at  the  present  time  is 
about  10,000  tons,  and  consequently  nearly  equals  that  of 
Cornwall. 

The  copper  occurs  in  the  native  state  in  veins  intersecting 
the  trap  and  sandstone,  but  also  in  scattered  superficial 
masses  along  the  chain  of  hills  which  extends  from  the 
western  to  the  north-eastern  extremity  of  Lake  Superior. 
In  no  known  locality  have  such  large  masses  of  copper  been 
found.  An  enormous  block  was  discovered  in  February  1857 
in  the  Minnesota  mine.  It  was  forty- five  feet  in  length, 
twenty-two  feet  at  the  greatest  width,  and  the  thickest  part 
was  more  than  eight  feet.  It  contained  over  ninety  per 
cent,  of  copper,  and  weighed  about  420  tons.  A  still  more  pro- 
digious mass,  sixty-five  feet  long,  thirty-two  feet  broad,  and 
four  feet  thick,  was  found  in  1869.  This  king  of  copper 
nuggets  weighed  no  less  than  1,000  tons,  and  was  worth 
80,000?.,  or  more  than  the  greatest  lump  of  gold  that  ever 
came  to  light  in  Australia  or  California. 

Eich  copper  mines  have  likewise  been  discovered  in  the 
States  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  and  New 
York,  but  chiefly  in  California,  where  since  1861  the  small 
town  of  Copperopolis  *  has  risen  into  importance.  More 
than  30,000  tons  of  Californian  copper  ores  (chiefly  sulphurets) 
are  now  annually  exported  to  the  smelting-houses  of  the 
bay  of  Boston,  which  are  likewise  supplied  by  the  ores  of 
Chili  and  Canada,  and  form  a  new  Swansea  on  the  opposite 
shore  of  the  Atlantic.     The  whole  annual  production  of  the 

*  This  hybrid  name,  a  vile  compound  of  English  and  Greek,  is  enough  to  excite 
the  wrath  of  a  philologist. 


AUSTRALIAN    COPPER    MINES.  329 

United    States  at  present  exceeds  20,000  tons  of  metallic 
copper,  mostly  consumed  in  the  country. 

The  mines  of  Cuba,  which  were  very  important,  have 
latterly  fallen  off ;  but  in  1866  the  exportation  to  Swansea 
still  amounted  to  11,254  tons  of  ore. 

Among  the  rich  copper  countries  of  the  world  I  have 
finally  to  mention  South  Australia,  New  South  Wales,  and 
Victoria.  The  most  extraordinary  copper  mine  of  modern 
times  for  produce  is  that  of  Burra-Burra  in  South  Australia. 
It  was  started  in  September  1845,  with  a  capital  of  12,000?., 
subscribed  by  a  few  merchants  and  traders  of  Adelaide,  and  in 
the  following  five  years  yielded  no  less  than  56,428  tons  of 
ore,  worth  738,108?.  The  gold  discoveries  momentarily  put 
a  stop  to  its  prosperity ;  but  of  late  years  the  works  have 
been  resumed,  and  other  rich  mines  have  been  opened,  so  that 
copper  will  long  remain  one  of  the  staple  productions  of 
Australia. 

The  history  of  some  of  our  copper  mines  affords  examples 
of  good  fortune  no  less  remarkable  than  those  which 
we  find  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  the  Mexican  silver- 
mining. 

Tresavean  Copper  Mine,  within  a  walk  of  Eedruth,  had 
once  or  twice  been  abandoned  as  a  failure.  At  length  it  was 
taken  up  by  parties  who  persevered  in  exploring  it,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  discovering  its  wealth  by  an  outlay  of  little  more 
than  1,000?.  From  1838  to  1843  the  profits  averaged  30,693?. 
per  annum,  and  in  1833  630?.  were  divided  per  share,  or  in 
all  60,480?.  upon  ninety- nine  shares,  each  share  having  about 
20?.  paid  up,  so  that  in  one  year  the  profits  surpassed  more 
than  thirty  times  the  capital  invested. 

Old  Crinnis  Copper  Mine,  near  St.  Austell,  was  in  1808 
abandoned,  after  repeated  failures,  and  declared  by  the  best 
miners  of  the  day  to  be  not  worth  <  a  pipe  of  tobacco.'  In 
1809  Mr.  Joshua  Eowe,  of  Torpoint,  and  some  co-adventurers 
notwithstanding  the  general  contempt  for  the  mine,  began 
working  it  again.  As  it  still  remained  poor,  the  adventurers 
dropped  off  one  by  one,  leaving  the  entire  cost  of  working 
upon  Mr.  Eowe,  who,  after  laying  out  a  few  additional 
hundreds,  was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  a  rich  mass  of  ore 
at  about  ten  fathoms  from  the  surface.     Upon  this  becoming 


S30  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

known,  the  old  adventurers  again  claimed  their  shares; 
but  Mr.  Rowe  resisted  their  unjust  pretentions  and  won  his 
lawsuit.  In  the  short  space  of  four  years  and  a  half,  this 
mine  made  a  clear  profit  of  168,000?.,  besides  paying  20,000?. 
for  law  expenses. 

Another  instance  of  remarkable  success  is  afforded  by  the 
Devon  Great  Consols  Mines,  which  were  opened  in  the  year 
1844.  The  capital  of  the  company  which  undertook  their 
working  was  parted  into  1,024  shares,  with  11.  paid  on  each 
share.  In  the  same  year  by  November  a  rich  copper  lode 
was  cut,  and  the  profits  paid  working  expenses  without  call. 
The  lodes  soon  began  to  turn  out  so  rich  that  in  the  six 
years  between  the  dates  of  1844  and  of  1850  the  company 
extracted  and  sold  copper  ores  to  the  amount  of  600,000?. 
After  paying  all  expenses,  the  shareholders  received  about 
207,000?.,  or  more  than  200?.  per  share  on  1?.  paid.  No  more 
was  called,  and  thus  an  average  annual  dividend  of  35?., 
equivalent  to  3,500  per  cent.,  fell  to  the  lot  of  each  share. 

Such  instances,  however,  of  good  fortune  are  very  rare, 
for  mining  in  Cornwall,  as  elsewhere,  is  much  more  frequently 
attended  with  disappointment  and  loss.  Sometimes  an 
apparently  rich  produce  is  absorbed  by  still  greater  expenses, 
or  veins  very  promising  when  first  opened  fall  off  below,  and 
occasion  immense  loss  to  the  adventurers.  A  sudden  fall  in 
the  price  of  the  metal  is  alone  sufficient  to  render  many  of 
the  poorer  mines  perfectly  worthless  for  a  long  time."*  Hence 
nothing  can  be  more  hazardous  than  to  invest  capital  in  a 
mining  concern ;  and  if  Shakspeare  had  foreseen  the  delusions 
of  modern  speculations  in  concerns  of  this  kind,  he  could 
not  more  truly  have  characterised  them  than  by  saying — 

•  The  earth  hath  bubbles  as  the  water  hath, 
And  these  are  of  them.' 

Yet  the  hope  of  suddenly  getting  rich,  and  the  very  risks 

*  Since  the  discovery  of  the  rich  North  American  and  Chilian  mines  the  price 
of  copper  has  fallen  about  30  per  cent.  The  consequence  has  been  a  great  dimi- 
nution of  our  copper  production.  Thus  Cornwall  and  Devonshire,  which  in  1856 
yielded  206,177  tons  of  copper  ore,  worth  1,241,835/.,  saw  their  produce  gradually 
diminish  from  that  time,  and  in  1865  furnished  no  more  than  159,409  tons,  worth 
only  753,427/.  In  1856  the  mean  average  price  of  copper  was  123/.  per  ton  ;  in 
1865  it  was  no  more  than  94/.  7s. 


UNCERTAINTY   OF   MINING    SPECULATIONS.  331 

and  daring  attending  all  mining  undertakings,  have  an 
almost  magical  attraction ;  and,  in  spite  of  numberless  in- 
stances of  loss  or  ruin,  there  will  probably  never  be  a  want 
of  speculators  willing  to  embark  their  fortunes  on  this  un- 
stable foundation. 


332  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTEE   XXVII. 

TIN. 

Tin  known  from  the  most  remote  antiquity  —  Phoenician  Traders  —  The  Cassi- 
terides — Diodorus  Siculus — His  Account  of  the  Cornish  Tin  Trade — The  Age 
of  Bronze — Valuable  Qualities  of  Tin — Tin  Countries — Cornish  Tin  Lodes — 
Tin  Streams — Wheal  Vor  —  A  Subterranean  Blacksmith  —  Huel  Wherry,  a 
Tin  Mine  under  the  Sea — Carclaze  Tin  Mine — Dressing  of  Tin  Ores  —Smelting 
— The  Cornish  Miner. 

TIN  is  one  of  the  metals  most  anciently  known  to  man. 
Its  first  discovery  is  hidden,  like  that  of  silver,  gold, 
copper,  and  iron,  in  complete  obscurity,  for  even  the  names 
of  the  nations  which  first  made  use  of  it  are  not  known. 
Axes  and  lances,  sickles  and  fishhooks  of  bronze — the  well- 
known  alloy  of  copper  and  tin — occur  among  the  ruins  of 
the  ancient  lacustrine  habitations  of  Switzerland,  and  the  tin 
of  these  bronze  utensils  could  only  be  obtained  by  commerce 
from  countries  far  remote,  where  it  must,  doubtless,  have  been 
known  for  many  ages,  before  it  found  its  way  into  the  heart 
of  Central  Europe.  Thus  a  few  bronze  implements  picked  up 
among  other  rubbish  in  the  muddy  bed  of  an  Helvetian  lake 
open  a  long  vista  into  the  obscure  history  of  primitive  man. 

On  turning  from  Europe  to  the  East  we  find  other  proofs 
that  tin  has  been  known  from  the  most  remote  antiquity. 
It  is  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Numbers  (xxxi.  22)  among 
the  spoil  which  the  children  of  Israel  gained  by  their  victory 
over  the  Midianites  ;  and  Ezekiel,  in  his  prophetic  warning 
to  the  Tyrians,  enumerates  tin  as  forming  part  of  their  riches. 

It  is  frequently  noticed  by  Homer  as  a  substance  used  for 
architectural  ornaments  or  for  the  embellishment  of  the 
armour  of  his  heroes,  and  its  Greek  name  'Kassiteros,'  which 
evidently  represents  the  Sanscrit  '  Kastira/  leaves  no  doubt 
as  to  the  part  of  the  world  from  which  it  was  first  obtained. 


PHOENICIAN   TIN    TRADE. 


333 


The  tin  which,  in  times  unrecorded  by  chronology,  served 
for  the  consumption  of  Western  Asia,  Egypt,  and  Greece,  was 
supplied  by  the  mines  of  India  to  the  Phoenician  traders,  who 
conveyed  it,  either  by  land  to  Babylon,  or  by  water  to  the 
ports  of  the  Red  Sea.  At  a  much  later  period  that  great 
merchant  people  extended  their  maritime  expeditions  to  the 
West,  and  sailing  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Gaul,  ultimately 
discovered  Cornwall,  which  afforded  them  a  new  and  inex- 
haustible supply  of  tin.  With  the  jealous  spirit  of  trade,  they 
long  made  a  profound  secret  of  its  position;  but  about  450 


^5« --  ■-*,>*  ; 


ST.   MICHAEL'S   MOUNT,   CORNWALL. 


years  before  Christ,  Herodotus  speaks  of  the  Cassiterides,  or 
tin  islands,  which  some  have  supposed  to  be  Britain.  Four 
centuries  later  Diodorus  Siculus,  who  lived  in  the  times  of 
Julius  Csesar  and  Augustus,  gives  us  an  interesting  account  of 
the  ancient  tin  trade  of  Britain.  '  The  inhabitants  of  that 
extremity  of  Britain  which  is  called  Bolerion'  (probably 
Land's  End),  says  the  historian  whose  narrative  is  the  more 
deserving  of  attention  as  we  are  told  that  he  visited  all  the 
places  he  mentions:  'both  excel  in  hospitality  and  also,  by 
reason  of  their  intercourse  with  foreign  merchants,  they  are 


334  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

civilized  in  their  mode  of  life.  These  prepare  the  tin,  work- 
ing very  skilfully  the  earth  which  produces  it.  The  ground 
is  rocky,  but  it  has  in  it  earthy  veins,  the  produce  of  which  is 
brought  down  and  melted  and  purified.  Then,  when  they 
have  cast  it  into  the  form  of  cubes,  they  carry  it  to  a  certain 
island  adjoining  to  Britain  and  called  Iktis  (probably  St. 
Michael's  Mount).  During  the  recess  of  the  tide  the  inter- 
vening space  is  left  dry,  and  they  carry  over  abundance  of  tin 
to  this  place  on  their  carts;  and  it  is  something  peculiar  that 
happens  to  the  islands  in  these  parts  lying  between  Europe 
and  Britain,  for  at  full  tide,  the  intervening  passage  being 
overflowed,  they  appear  islands,  but  when  the  sea  returns  a 
large  space  is  left  dry  and  they  are  seen  as  peninsulas.  From 
hence,  then,  the  traders  purchase  the  tin  of  the  natives  and 
transport  it  into  Gaul,  and  finally,  travelling  through  Gaul 
on  foot,  in  about  thirty  days  they  bring  their  burdens  on 
horseback  to  the  river  Rhone.'  Thus  we  learn  from  an 
authentic  source  how  the  tin  of  Cornwall  found  its  way  to 
Italy  in  the  times  of  the  first  Roman  Emperors ;  but  long 
before  that  period  the  wild  inhabitants  of  Cornwall  must 
have  discovered  the  use  of  the  metallic  treasures  of  their 
barren  soil  and  the  way  to  barter  them  for  the  commodities 
of  the  rude  tribes  of  their  own  island  or  of  the  neighbouring 
nations  of  Gaul. 

When  we  consider  the  various  and  important  uses  to  which 
tin  may  be  applied,  we  cannot  wonder  at  its  importance  in 
the  commerce  of  the  ancient  world.  The  discovery  of  bronze 
marks  one  of  the  great  epochs  in  the  progress  of  human 
civilization,  and  the  nations  that  could  command  its  use 
became  at  once  superior,  in  peace  and  war,  to  the  tribes  who 
had  only  flint  spear-heads  for  their  defence  or  flint  hatchets 
for  the  construction  of  their  huts.  At  a  later  period,  when 
iron  gradually  supplanted  the  use  of  bronze  for  many  pur- 
poses, tin  still  continued  to  be  highly  esteemed  for  its  many 
excellent  qualities.  Possessing  a  lustre  but  little  inferior  to 
that  of  silver,  it  is  not  soon  tarnished,  and  not  only  retains 
its  metallic  brilliancy  a  long  time,  but  when  lost  easily  re- 
covers it.  Under  the  hammer  it  is  extended  into  leaves  called 
tin-foil,  which  are  about  one-thousandth  of  an  inch  thick, 
and  might  easily  be  beaten  into  one-half  that  thickness  if 


USES   OF   TIN   IN   COMBINATION.  335 

the  purposes  of  trade  required  it.  The  application  of  tin  to 
the  coating  of  other  metals  has  been  carried  to  great  per- 
fection, and  it  forms  the  chief  ingredient  in  various  kinds  of 
pewter  and  other  white  metallic  alloys,  such  as  Britannia 
metal,  which  are  manufactured  into  domestic  utensils  by 
casting,  stamping,  and  other  ingenious  processes.  Tin  is 
the  substance  which,  coated  with  quicksilver,  makes  the  re- 
flecting surface  of  glass  mirrors.  It  is  also  very  important 
in  dyeing  processes,  as  its  solutions  in  nitric,  muriatic,  and 
other  acids  gives  a  degree  of  permanency  and  brilliancy  to 
several  colours  not  to  be  obtained  by  the  use  of  other 
mordants.  A  compound  of  tin  with  gold  gives  the  fine 
crimson  and  purple  colours  to  stained  glass  and  artificial 
gems,  and  enamel  is  produced  by  the  fusion  of  oxide  of  tin 
with  the  materials  of  plate  glass. 

There  are  only  two  ores  of  tin — the  peroxide,  or  tinstone, 
and  the  pyrites,  or  stannine.  The  former  alone  occurs  in 
sufficient  abundance  for  metallurgic  purposes,  and  has  been 
found  in  few  countries  in  a  workable  quantity.  In  Asia 
its  richest  deposits  occur  in  Sumatra,  the  peninsula  of 
Malacca,  and  some  smaller  islands,  particularly  Banca  and 
Billiton.  The  stanniferous  region  in  this  part  of  Asia 
extends  from  20°  N.  Lat.  to  5°  8.  Lat.,  and  in  many  places 
the  ore  is  found  in  such  quantities  in  the  alluvial  grounds 
as  to  be  separated  in  the  easiest  manner,  by  washing  or 
'streaming,'  from  the  gravel  or  sand  with  which  it  is  mixed. 
The  facility  with  which  it  is  obtained  renders  its  cost  of  ex- 
traction so  small  that  large  quantities  find  their  way  to  the 
European  markets.  In  1866  the  mines  of  Banca  furnished 
5,362  tons  of  tin,  and  those  of  the  Sound  5,254  tons  of  the 
same  metal.  The  port  of  London  alone  received  4,400  tons  of 
tin  from  these  two  sources.  In  consequence  of  the  constantly 
increasing  importation  from  the  Malay  countries,  the  price  of 
the  metal  has  been  constantly  decreasing  since  1856,  so  that 
the  ton  of  ore,  which  at  that  time  was  worth  701.,  now  fetches 
no  more  than  48 1.  Unfortunately  these  low  prices  have 
materially  injured  the  prosperity  of  our  Cornish  mines,  which 
from  year  to  year  find  it  more  difficult  to  compete  with  Banca 
and  Billiton.  Their  production,  however,  still  continues  to 
be  immense,  for  in  1866  they  yielded  15,080  tons  of  ore,  from 


336  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

which  9,990  tons  of  metal  were  extracted.  This  quantity  is 
greater  than  that  of  any  preceding  year;  and  as  many  of  the 
deep  mines  of  Cornwall  are  changing  from  coj)per  into  tin 
ore,  increased  supplies  will  be  obtained  to  meet  any  demand. 

Compared  with  this  vast  production,  that  of  Saxony 
(seventy-six  tons),  Bohemia  (twenty-one  tons),  Spain,  and 
France  is  so  insignificant  as  to  be  hardly  worth  mentioning ; 
but  our  Australian  possessions  have  lately  increased  the 
small  number  of  tin-producing  countries,  and  give  promise 
of  future  importance. 

Both  Cornwall  and  Devon  possess  tin  mines,  which,  how- 
ever, are  most  important  in  the  county 

'  Where  England,  stretched  towards  the  setting  sun, 
Narrow  and  long,  o'erlooks  the  western  wave.' — Cowper. 

The  undulating  surface  of  this  arid  peninsula,  which,  being 
remarkable  neither  for  agricultural  nor  foreign  commerce, 
has  been  celebrated  since  the  remotest  ages  for  the  mineral 
riches  concealed  beneath  its  barren  soil,  consists  almost  ex- 
clusively of  slaty  transition  rocks  or  hillas,  traversed  or  inter- 
sected by  a  central  granitic  range  and  by  dykes  of  porphyry 
or  elvan  which  cut  the  slate  and  granite,  occasionally  travers- 
ing both  in  one  continuous  body  of  rock,  somewhat  in  the 
manner  of  trap-dykes,  and  evidently  of  a  later  formation. 
The  lodes  or  mineral  veins  traverse  the  granite,  the  slate,  and 
the  elvan  indiscriminately,  but  they  occur  more  especially 
at  the  junction  of  granite  and  slate.  They  have  commonly 
one  prevailing  direction,  but  they  invariably  throw  off  into 
the  containing  rock  '  shoots,  strings,  and  branches,'  often  in 
such  abundance  that,  instead  of  one  main  lode,  called  a 
champion  lode,  the  whole  is  an  irregular  network  of  veins. 
It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  the  same  lode  has  ever  been 
traced  for  more  than  a  mile  in  length.  Very  often  the  lode 
first  discovered  dwindles  to  a  mere  line,  whilst  some  of  its 
offshoots  swell  out,  enlarge,  and  rival,  or  even  surpass,  both  in 
size  and  richness,  the  veins  from  which  they  have  separated. 
The  metalliferous  or  valuable  contents  of  a  lode  generally 
bear  but  a  small  proportion  to  its  unprofitable  parts.  Instead 
of  forming  uniform  lines  of  metal  or  pure  ore,  running 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  vein,  they  generally  occur 
in  what  the  miners  term  bunches,  or  in  patches  of  various 


TIN   AND    COPPER    LODES.  337 

sizes  and  shapes.  These  very  rarely  occupy  the  whole  space 
between  the  walls  or  containing  sides  of  the  lode,  but  they  are 
mixed  up  with  a  variety  of  other  substances,  the  chief  of 
which  is  quartz. 

Sometimes  a  lode  is  filled  with  a  compact  and  perfectly 
solid  mass  ;  at  other  times  it  abounds  in  cavities  which  may 
occur  in  any  one  of  the  ingredients  and  also  of  any  size,  from 
those  of  the  hollows  of  a  honeycomb  to  hollows  of  several 
fathoms  in  length  and  depth. 

In  many  lodes  tin  is  found  associated  with  copper,  and 
frequently  above  the  latter,  so  that  the  upper  part  of  many  a 
copper  lode  has  been  worked  as  a  tin  lode. 

The  veins  of  Cornwall  have  no  determinate  size,  being 
sometimes  very  narrow,  and  at  others  exceeding  several 
fathoms  in  width  ;  sometimes  they  extend  to  a  great  length 
and  depth,  at  others  they  end  after  a  short  course.  They 
vary  so  in  breadth  that  in  the  same  lode  one  part  may  consist 
of  a  mere  line  between  the  opposing  walls,  while  another  swells 
to  a  width  of  from  thirty  to  forty  feet.  These  great  changes, 
however,  seldom  happen  within  several  fathoms  of  each 
other.  Lodes  which  yield  both  tin  and  copper  in  mixture 
are  considerably  larger  than  those  which  yield  each  metal 
singly.  It  is  also  a  general  fact  that  the  lodes  diminish  in 
breadth  in  proportion  to  their  depth.  The  richest  tin  ores 
are  more  commonly  found  between  forty  and  sixty  fathoms 
deep ;  but  in  some  instances,  as  in  Dolcoath  mine,  the  depth 
of  200  fathoms  has  been  attained  without  exhausting  the 
supply,  and  Tresavean  mine  has  been  worked  to  great  profit 
at  more  than  320  fathoms  from  the  surface.  Tin  veins  are 
considered  to  be  good  working  when  only  three  inches  wide, 
provided  the  ore  be  good  for  its  width. 

Besides  being  contained  in  lodes,  tin  is  also  found  in 
alluvial  beds,  probably  resulting  from  the  disintegration  of 
the  former  during  a  long  series  of  ages.  This  stream-tin,  as 
it  is  called,  is  met  with  either  in  a  pulverized  sandy  state  in 
separate  stones,  called  shodes,  or  in  a  continued  course  of 
stones,  which  are  sometimes  found  together  in  large  numbers, 
and  occur  at  depths  varying  from  one  to  fifty  feet.  This 
course  is  called  a  stream,  and  when  rich  in  ore  was  formerly 
called  Beauheyl,  which  is  a  Cornish  word  signifying  a  'living 


338  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

stream.'  In  the  same  figurative  style,  when  the  stone  was 
but  lightly  impregnated  with  tin,  it  was  said  to  be  'just 
alive,'  and  dead  when  it  contained  no  metal. 

Tin  streams  of  irregular  breadth,  though  seldom  less  than 
a  fathom,  are  often  scattered  in  different  quantities  over  the 
whole  breadths  of  the  moor  bottoms  or  valleys  in  which  they 
are  found.  As  the  confluence  of  rivers  makes  a  flood,  so  the 
meeting  of  tin-streams  makes  what  is  called  a  rich  'floor  of 
tin.'  The  ore,  being  thus  disseminated  both  in  the  alluvium 
which  covers  the  gentle  slopes  of  the  hills,  and  in  that  which 
fills  the  valleys  winding  round  their  base,  is  easily  obtained 
by  conveying  over  its  bed  a  stream  of  water,  which,  by  washing 
away  the  lighter  matter,  leaves  the  heavy  ore  to  be  picked 
up  where  the  operation  has  been  performed. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  oldest  method  of 
tin-getting,  and  the  abundant  traces  of  ancient  stream-works 
which  are  to  be  seen  from  Dartmoor  to  the  Land's  End  give 
proof  of  the  great  accumulation  which  must  have  been 
formerly  worked  out  by  this  method.  In  the  course  of  ages 
most  of  these  alluvial  deposits  have  been  exhausted,  and 
where,  thirty  or  forty  centuries  ago,  large  quantities  of  tin 
ore  were  superficially  gathered  with  little  ingenuity  and 
labour,  the  miner  is  now  obliged  to  descend  many  a  fathom 
deep  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and  work  his  slow  way 
through  the  hard  rock. 

Yet,  after  so  many  centuries  of  research  and  extraction,  tin- 
streaming  is  still  carried  on  in  several  places,  as,  for  instance, 
at  Carnon,  north  of  Falmouth,  where  a  long  line  of  stream- 
works  extends  down  the  valley.  The  ore,  mixed  with  rounded 
pieces  of  slate,  granite,  and  quartz,  lies  buried  about  fifty 
feet  from  the  surface,  beneath  the  bottom  of  an  estuary, 
where  trees  are  discovered  in  their  place  of  growth,  together 
with  human  skulls  and  the  remains  of  deer,  amidst  the  vege- 
table accumulation  which  immediately  covers  the  stanniferous 
beds.     Thus  ruins  are  here  piled  up  above  ruins. 

In  1866  the  number  of  tin  mines  in  activity  amounted  to 
139  in  Cornwall  and  to  26  in  Devonshire.  In  1852  the  most 
important  works  were  Balleswidden,  Great  Polgarth,  Pollberro, 
and  Drake  Wall ;  but,  as  nothing  is  more  fluctuating  than  the 
fortunes  of  mines,  others  have  probably  taken  the  lead  since 
that  period. 


THE   MINE   OP   HUEL   WHEERY.  339 

Wheal  Vor,  in  the  parish  of  Breage,  three  miles  from 
Helston,  may  be  cited  as  a  conspicuous  example  of  the 
changes  of  fortune  so  frequent  in  the  annals  of  Cornish 
mining.  Twenty-five  years  ago  it  was  considered  the  richest 
tin  mine  in  Cornwall.  More  than  200,000/.  profit  had  been 
divided  among  the  shareholders.  In  1843  there  were  fifteen 
engines  at  work  on  this  extensive  sett,  which  had  the  appear- 
ance of  a  town,  and  the  machinery  was  valued  at  100,000/. 
Here  was  put  up  the  first  steam-engine  ever  erected  in  Corn- 
wall, between  the  years  1 710  and  1714.  The  lode  from  which 
the  chief  part  of  the  ore  was  raised  was  still  productive  in 
1843,  when  the  mine  employed  1,200  persons,  and  the 
monthly  cost  of  working  had  been,  some  years  before  1843, 
about  12,000/.  per  month.  The  mine,  however,  became  less 
profitable,  and,  wearing  out  by  degrees,  finally  stopped. 

There  was  formerly  a  blacksmith's  forge  at  the  bottom  of 
this  mine,  in  full  operation  at  1,470  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  All  the  miners'  tools  were  steeled,  sharpened,  and 
repaired,  and  bucket-rods  cut  and  welded  in  this  subterranean 
smithy,  which  was  clear  and  free  from  dust,  smoke,  and  sul- 
phur, and  did  not  in  the  least  annoy  the  miners.  Within 
the  last  few  years  the  mine  has  been  resuscitated  with  a 
capital  of  200,000/. ;  but,  as  the  shares  have  fallen  from  40/. 
to  8/.,  the  attempt  seems  to  have  been  far  from  profitable. 

The  history  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  Huel  Wherry,*  a  tin 
mine  which  was  opened,  more  than  a  century  ago,  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea,  near  the  town  of  Penzance,  is  too  interesting  to 
be  passed  over  in  silence.  In  this  place  a  gravelly  bottom 
was  left  bare  at  low  water.  Here  a  multitude  of  small  veins 
of  tin  ore  crossed  each  other  in  every  direction  through  elvan 
rocks,  and  were  worked  whenever  the  sea,  the  tide,  and  the 
season  would  permit,  until  the  depth  became  unmanageable. 
About  the  year  1778  Thomas  Curtis,  a  poor  miner,  was  bold 
enough  to  renew  the  attempt.  The  distance  of  the  shoal 
from  the  neighbouring  beach  at  high  water  is  about  120 
fathoms,  and  this  distance,  in  consequence  of  the  shallowness 
of  the  beach,  is  not  materially  lessened  at  low  water.  It  is 
calculated  that  the  surface  of  the  rock  is  covered  about  ten 
months  in  the  year,  and  that  the  depth  of  the  water  upon  it 

*  '  Cornwall,  its  Mines  and  Miners.' 
z  2 


340  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

at  spring  tide  is  nineteen  feet.  A  very  great  surf  is  caused, 
even  in  the  summer,  by  the  prevailing  winds,  while  in  winter 
the  sea  bursts  over  the  rock  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render 
useless  all  attempts  to  carry  on  mining  operations.  Yet  all 
these  difficulties  had  to  be  overcome  by  a  poor  uneducated 
man.  As  the  work  could  be  prosecuted  only  during  the  short 
time  the  rock  appeared  above  water — a  time  still  further 
abridged  by  the  necessity  of  previously  emptying  the  excava- 
tion already  made — three  summers  were  spent  in  sinking 
the  pump-shaft,  which  was  a  work  of  mere  bodily  labour.  A 
frame  of  boards,  made  watertight  by  pitch  and  oakum,  and 
carried  up  to  a  sufficient  height  above  the  spring  tide,  was 
then  applied  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  To  support  this 
boarded  turret — which  was  twenty  feet  high  above  the  rock, 
and  two  feet  one  inch  square — against  the  violence  of  the 
surge,  eight  stout  bars  were  applied,  in  an  inclined  direc- 
tion, to  its  sides,  four  of  them  below,  and  four,  of  an  extraor- 
dinary length  and  thickness,  above.  A  platform  of  boards 
was  then  lashed  round  the  top  of  the  turret,  supported 
by  four  poles,  which  were  firmly  connected  with  these 
rods.  Lastly,  upon  this  platform  was  fixed  a  windlass  for 
four  men. 

By  such  an  erection  it  was  expected  that  the  miners  would 
be  enabled  to  pursue  their  operations  at  all  times,  even  during 
the  winter  months,  whenever  the  weather  was  not  particu- 
larly unfavourable.  But  as  soon  as  the  excavation  was 
carried,  to  some  extent,  in  a  lateral  direction,  the  hope  was 
disappointed,  for  the  sea  water  penetrated  through  the  fissures 
of  the  rock,  and,  in  proportion  as  the  workings  became  en- 
larged, the  labour  of  raising  the  ore  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft 
increased.  To  add  to  all  this,  it  was  found  impossible  to 
2>revent  the  water  from  forcing  its  way  through  the  shaft 
during  the  winter  months,  or,  on  account  of  the  swell  and 
surf,  to  remove  the  tin-stone  from  the  rock  to  the  beach  op- 
posite. Hence  the  whole  winter  was  a  period  of  inaction,  and 
the  regular  working  of  the  mine  could  not  be  resumed  before 
April.  Nevertheless,  the  short  interval  which  was  still  allowed 
for  labour  below  ground  was  sufficient  to  reward  the  bold  and 
persevering  projector. 

The  close  of  this  wonderful  mine,  from  which  many  thousand 


THE    CAECLAZE    TIN-MINE.  341 

pounds  worth  of  tin  was  raised,  was  as  romantic  as  its  com- 
mencement. An  American  vessel  broke  from  its  anchorage 
in  Gwavns  Lake,  and,  striking  against  the  stage,  demolished 
the  machinery,  and  thns  put  an  end  to  an  adventure  which, 
both  in  ingenuity  and  success,  was  in  all  probability  un- 
equalled in  any  country. 

This  wonderful  mine  was  worked  again  a  few  years  since ; 
but,  although  a  very  large  sum  of  money  was  expended,  and 
it  had  all  the  advantage  of  improved  machinery,  yet  it  failed 
to  be  a  profitable  adventure,  and  was  eventually  abandoned. 

The  Carclaze  tin-mine,  near  the  town  of  St.  Austell,  though 
unimportant  with  regard  to  its  produce,  deserves  to  be  noticed 
for  its  picturesque  appearance  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
worked.  It  consists  of  a  large  open  excavation,  of  a  mile  in 
circuit  and  from  twenty  to  thirty  fathoms  in  depth,  looking 
more  like  a  vast  natural  crater  that  a  hollow  made  by  human 
hands  ;  and  for  hours  the  visitor  might  traverse  the  dreary 
and  barren  hilly  common  in  which  it  is  situated  without 
suspecting  that  a  mine  is  close  at  hand.  No  engine-house 
and  chimney  towering  aloft  announces  it  from  afar ;  the 
whole  business  is  confined  to  the  interior  of  the  punch-bowl 
hollow.  Every  detail  of  the  works  is  here  exposed  to  view, 
and  it  would  seem  as  if  a  complete  mine  had  been  turned 
inside  out  for  the  benefit  of  timid  travellers,  who  would  wish 
to  see  the  various  operations  of  mining  without  the  risk  of  a 
descent  below  the  surface. 

The  walls  of  this  vast  hollow  or  crater  are  almost  perpen- 
dicular, and  the  view  from  the  ridge  of  the  precipice,  into 
which  but  few  footpaths  descend,  is  rendered  interesting  by 
the  fantastic  shape  of  the  rocks,  worn  or  hewn  into  a  thousand 
grotesque  forms  by  the  action  of  the  waters  or  the  pickaxe 
of  the  miner ;  by  the  enormous  number  of  holes  and  hollows 
resulting  from  ancient  excavations ;  by  the  white  colour  of 
the  granite,  veined  with  the  darker  metalliferous  streaks ; 
by  the  water-wheels  at  the  bottom,  which,  worked  by  streams 
from  the  neighbouring  commons,  propel  the  machinery  for 
crushing  the  stones,  loosened  by  the  water  as  it  flows  down 
the  sides  of  the  cavity ;  and  by  the  men,  women,  and  children, 
scattered  over  the  works.  The  ore  is  obtained  without 
much  difficulty,  and  is  easily  separated  from  the  friable  and 


342  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

decomposed  granite,  in  which  it  is  embedded,  by  repeated 
washings  in  the  streams  that  are  made  to  flow  out  at  the 
bottom  of  the  mine  through  a  channel  or  tunnel,  and  which 
carry  away  the  soft  groivan  or  granite  by  their  rapid  current, 
while  the  heavier  metalliferous  substances  are  precipitated. 

As  the  ores  are  very  poor,  not  even  containing  one  per 
cent,  of  tin,  Carclaze,  which  has  been  already  worked  for 
many  centuries,  would  long  since  have  been  abandoned  but 
for  the  abundance  of  the  ores  and  the  comparatively  small 
expense  of  their  extraction. 

The  dressing  of  the  tin  ores,  or  the  process  by  which  they  are 
separated  as  far  as  possible  from  the  earthy  impurities  which 
are  mixed  up  with  them,  and  are  generally  much  lighter, 
begins  with  cleaning  and  sorting,  and  then  goes  onto  washing 
and  stamping,  and  finally  to  calcination  in  the  burning- 
house  and  to  smelting. 

The  tin  ores  of  Cornwall  and  Devonshire  are  all  reduced 
within  the  counties  where  the}'  are  mined,  as  the  law  pro- 
hibits their  exportation — a  most  absurd  and  antiquated 
regulation,  wdiich.  however,  in  this  case  is  not  injurious  to 
private  interests,  as  the  vessels  which  bring  the  fuel  from 
Wales  for  the  smelting  furnaces  return  to  Swansea  and  Neath 
laden  with  copper  ores.  The  smelting  works,  not  exceeding 
seven  or  eight  in  number,  belong  generally  not  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  mines,  but  to  other  parties,  who  purchase  the 
ore  from  the  proprietors. 

The  smelting  is  effected  by  two  different  methods,  which 
may  be  briefly  described  by  stating  that,  by  the  first  and 
most  common,  the  ore,  mixed  with  culm,  is  exposed  to  heat 
upon  the  hearth  of  a  reverberating  furnace,  in  which  pit  coal 
is  used  as  fuel ;  while  by  the  second  method,  which  is  applied 
merely  to  stream-tin,  and  which  is  followed  in  order  to 
obtain  tin  of  the  finest  quality,  the  ore  is  fused  in  a  blast- 
furnace called  a  blowing -house,  in  which  wood  fuel  or  charcoal 
is  used.  The  melted  tin  runs  off  from  the  furnace  into  an  open 
basin,  whence  it  flows  into  a  large  vessel,  where  it  is  allowed 
to  settle.  The  scoria?  are  skimmed  off,  and  the  subsequent 
operations  consist  of  refining  by  allowing  the  mass  of  the 
metal  to  rest,  then  submitting  the  upper  and  pure  portion  to 
the  refining  basin,  and  remelting  the  lower  part.     In  order 


NATURE   OF   THE   MINER'S   WORK.  343 

to  convert  the  blocks  into  grain-tin,  they  are  heated  until 
they  become  brittle,  and  made  to  fall  from  a  considerable 
height  in  a  semi-fluid  state,  thus  producing  an  agglomerated 
mass  of  elongated  grains. 

The  number  of  persons  that  find  occupation  in  and  about 
the  Cornish  and  Devonian  tin  mines  may  amount  to  about 
20,000.  The  wages  are,  on  an  average,  much  inferior  to  those 
of  the  pitmen  and  pitlads  in  the  northern  coal-fields ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Cornish  miner  is  exempt  from  many 
evils  to  which  the  northern  miners  are  subject.  He  has 
not  to  fear  the  fatal  fire-damp,  and  can  sit  at  ease  and  hear 
or  read  of  explosions  that  have  destroyed  hundreds  in  a  few 
minutes. 

His  intellectual  superiority  to  the  agricultural  labourer 
may  be  at  once  inferred  from  the  nature  of  his  pursuits.  The 
latter  plods  on  through  life  like  a  mere  human  machine,  and, 
as  he  is  never  thrown  on  his  own  resources  in  the  progress 
of  his  monotonous  occupations,  his  stock  of  ideas  remains 
scanty  and  confined.  But  the  Cornish  miner  is  the  reverse 
of  all  this.  He  is  engaged  mostly  iu  work  requiring  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  mind.  He  is  constantly  taking  a  new  4  pitch '  * 
in  a  new  situation,  where  his  judgment  is  called  into  action. 
His  wages  are  not  the  stinted  recompense  of  half- emancipated 
serfdom ;  but  they  arise  from  contract,  and  depend  upon  some 
degree  of  skill  and  knowledge.  In  fact  the  chances  of  the 
lode  keep  expectation  constantly  awake,  and  thus  : — 

'  Hope  reigns  triumphant  in  the  miners  breast, 
Who  never  is,  but  always  to  be  blest.' 

If  he  is  at  all  imaginative,  golden  dreams  enliven  the  dark- 
ness of  his  underground  labour.  He  is  in  fact  a  kind  of 
subterranean  stock-jobber,  and  '  settling  day '  is  as  anxious  a 

*  The  lodes  in  the  Cornish  tin  and  copper  mines  are  divided  by  shafts  and 
galleries  into  rectangular  compartments,  called  '  pitches.'  These  are  open  to  the 
inspection  of  all  the  labouring  miners  in  the  county,  and,  by  an  admirable  system, 
each  '  pitch'  is  let  by  public  competition,  for  two  months,  to  two  or  four  or  more 
miners,  who  may  work  it  as  they  choose.  These  men  agree  to  break  the  ores, 
wheel  them,  raise  them  to  the  surface,  and  bring  them  (if  desired)  into  a  fit  con- 
dition for  the  market.  The  ores  so  raised  are  sold  every  week,  and  the  miner 
immediately  receives  his  tribute,  or  percentage  for  which  he  agreed  to  work.  The 
sinking  of  shafts  and  the  driving  of  levels  is  paid  by  tiit-work,  or  task  work,  at  so 
much  per  fathom. 


344  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

time  for  the  humble  tributer  at  the  Land's  End  as  for  the 
bold  speculator  of  the  Stock  Exchange. 

When  not  exhausted  after  his  hard  day's  labour,  the  miner 
frequently  cultivates  a  small  patch  of  land.  Many  have 
tolerable  gardens,  and  some  are  able  to  perform  their  own 
carpentry,  while,  if  near  the  coast,  others  are  expert  fisher- 
men. 


345 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

IKON. 

Iron  the  most  valuable  of  Metals— Its  wide  Diffusion  over  the  Earth— Meteoric 
Iron— Iron  very  anciently  known— Extension  of  its  Uses  in  Modern  Times — 
British  Iron  Production— Causes  of  its' Rise— Hot  Blast— Puddling— Coal-smelt- 
ing— The  Cleveland  District— Eapid  Eise  of  Middlesborough— British  Iron  Ores 
— Production  of  Foreign  Countries— The  Magnetic  Mountain  in  Russia— The 
Eisenerz Mountain  in  Styria— Dannemora— Elba—  The  United  States— The  Pilot 
Knob— The  Cerro  del  Mercado. 

AS  an  instrument  of  civilisation  iron  is  the  most  valuable 
and  the  most  indispensable  of  all  mineral  substances. 
Even  coal  is  of  inferior  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
mankind,  for  iron  may  be  obtained  without  its  aid,  while 
coal  could  not  possibly  be  extracted  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  without  the  assistance  of  iron.  Hard  and  malleable, 
tenacious  and  ductile,  endowed  with  the  singular  property 
of  welding,  which  is  found  in  no  other  metal  except  platinum, 
and  acquiring  new  qualities  by  its  conversion  into  steel,  it 
accommodates  itself  to  all  our  wants  and  even  to  our 
caprices,  so  that  no  other  metal  has  such  various  and  ex- 
tensive uses.  It  clothes  our  war  ships  with  a  case  of 
impenetrable  armour,  and  sets  the  finest  watch  in  motion ;  it 
provides  the  sempstress  with  her  needle,  and  guides  the 
mariner  over  the  ocean ;  it  furnishes  the  husbandman  with 
his  ploughshare,  and  the  soldier  with  his  sword ;  it  concen- 
trates in  the  steam-engine  the  sinews  of  a  thousand  horses, 
and  mocks  on  the  railroad  the  fleetness  of  the  swiftest 
courser.  It  is,  in  one  word,  the  embodiment  of  power,  the 
chief  agent  of  all  social  progress. 

'  Were  the  use  of  iron  lost  among  us,'  says  the  illustrious 
Locke,  '  we  should,  in  a  few  ages,  be  unavoidably  reduced  to 
the  wants  and  ignorance  of  the  ancient  savage  Americans ; ' 


346  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

nor  will  this  view  be  deemed  extravagant  if  we  reflect  that, 
but  for  iron,  man  would  be  virtually  without  tools,  since  it  is 
almost  the  only  metal  capable  of  taking  a  sharp  edge  and 
keeping  it. 

The  bounty  of  the  Creator,  which  bestowed  on  man  this 
inestimable  gift,  has  also  provided  for  its  wider  diffusion  over 
the  earth  than  is  the  case  with  any  other  of  the  useful 
metals.  Few  mineral  substances  or  stones  are  without  an 
admixture  of  it.  Sands,  clays,  the  waters  of  rivers  or 
springs,  are  scarcely  ever  perfectly  free  from  iron,  while 
animal  and  vegetable  substances  likewise  afford  it  in  the 
residues  which  they  leave  after  incineration.  Its  mines 
may  truly  be  said  to  be  inexhaustible ;  in  some  its  ores 
occur  in  compact  masses  of  extraordinary  magnitude,  in 
others  they  spread  in  vast  strata  or  extend  in  veins  of  a 
prodigious  length. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  its  wide  diffusion,  the  extraction  of  iron 
from  its  ores  generally  requires  so  much  metallurgic  skill 
that  its  use  would  probably  have  remained  undiscovered  by 
the  ancients  if  Providence  had  not  in  a  wonderful  manner 
revealed,  as  it  were,  its  existence  to  mankind. 

All  iron  of  a  terrestrial  origin  is  combined  with  other 
substances,  which  conceal  its  true  nature  from  the  un- 
initiated eye,  and  from  which  it  is  with  difficulty  separated  ; 
but  here  and  there,  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
are  found  solitary  masses  of  metallic  iron,  which,  having 
fallen  from  the  skies,  may  truly  be  called  erratic  boulders 
from  another  world.  The  idea  of  their  having  dropped  from 
the  clouds  was  long  ridiculed  hj  the  learned ;  but  their  fall 
has  been  so  often  observed,  and  so  circumstantially  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  almost  every  age,  that  scepticism  has  been 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  weight  of  accumulated  evidence,  and 
science  no  longer  doubts  their  meteoric  origin.  Nothing 
can  be  more  interesting  than  these  mysterious  heralds  from 
the  distant  fields  of  ether,  which,  after  wandering  through 
space  for  countless  ages,  have  at  length  been  brought  within 
the  sphere  of  attraction  of  our  planet,  and,  alighting  on  its 
surface,  afford  us  tangible  proofs  that  many  of  the  sub- 
stances of  which  our  earth  is  composed — iron,  nickel,  silex, 
&c,  &c. — exist  beyond  its  limits,  and  that  most  probably  our 


EARLY   KNOWLEDGE    OF    IKON.  347 

whole  solar  system  is  constructed  of  the  same  materials  as 
our  globe. 

But  meteoric  iron — which  sometimes  occurs  in  enormous 
masses  * — is  more  than  a  mere  object  of  curiosity,  for  it  has 
had  a  most  important  influence  on  the  progress  of  the 
human  race.  On  such  a  mass  undoubtedly  the  first  smith 
exercised  his  skill,  and  it  was  this  which  first  made  mankind 
acquainted  with  a  metal  more  valuable  than  copper  or  gold. 

As  we  see  from  the  example  of  the  Esquimaux,  whom 
Captain  Ross  (1819)  found  in  possession  of  knives  and 
harpoons  which  they  had  made  from  masses  of  meteoric 
iron,  the  discovery  was  probably  made  at  a  very  remote 
period,  while  man  was  still  in  the  savage  state  ;  but  iron 
having  once  become  known,  the  desire  to  obtain  it  in  larger 
quantities  from  other  sources  naturally  grew  with  the  pro- 
gress of  civilisation,  and  gradually  led  to  the  knowledge  of 
its  ores  and  of  the  art  of  utilising  them.  Thus  there  can 
hardly  be  a  doubt  that  iron-smelting  was  practised  long 
before  historic  times.  In  India  and  China  the  origin  of  its 
use  loses  itself  in  the  remotest  antiquity ;  and  the  imposing 
monuments  of  ancient  Egypt,  many  of  which  are  at  least 
five  thousand  years  old,  could  not  possibly  have  been 
erected  without  the  aid  of  iron.  In  the  Book  of  Deutero- 
nomy (iv.  20)  the  land  of  Egypt  is  compared  to  an  iron- 
furnace — a  figurative  expression  which  shows  that  even 
at  that  early  period  iron-smelting  must  have  been  a  well- 
known  branch  of  industry. 

The  iron  weapons  found  in  the  lacustrine  dwellings  of 
Switzerland  likewise  point  to  a  very  ancient  use  of  iron  in 
Central  Europe,  no  less  than  the  fact  mentioned  by  Caesar, 
that  during  the  siege  of  Avaricum  (Bourges)  the  works 
erected  by  the  Soman s  for  taking  the  town  were  repeatedly 
destroyed  by  the  subterranean  galleries  of  the  besieged,  who, 
as  the  conqueror  relates,  were  accustomed  to  such  under- 
ground labour  from  their  habitually  working  in  iron-mines, 
an  industry  which,  to  judge  from  this  passage,  must  even 
then  have  been  of  ancient  date  in  Gaul. 

*  The  weight  of  the  mass  found  at  Otumpa,  in  the  Gran  Chaco  Gualamba,  in 
South  America,  by  Don  Eubin  de  Celis  (1783)  was  estimated  at  about  fifteen  tons. 
A  piece  from  this  mass,  weighing  1,400  pounds,  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 


348  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

For  many  ages  the  uses  of  iron  remained  chiefly  confined 
to  the  instruments  of  agriculture  and  of  war — to  the  plough- 
share and  the  sword.  With  the  progress  of  civilisation  its 
employment  extended  to  many  purposes  unknown  before  ; 
and  in  our  times  the  construction  of  ships  and  buildings,  of 
railroads  and  bridges,  absorbs  quantities  which  would  have 
appeared  incredible  almost  within  the  memory  of  living  man. 
Hence  the  manufacture  of  iron  has  made  more  rapid  pro- 
gress since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  than  in  any 
former  period  of  the  world's  history,  and  even  the  present 
immense  production  scarcely  keeps  pace  with  a  demand  to 
which  it  is  not  easy  to  assign  a  limit. 

Among  the  iron-producing  countries  of  the  globe  Great 
Britain  occupies  by  far  the  first  rank,  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  it  will  long  continue  to  maintain  it. 
The  British  ores,  indeed,  are  generally  poor,  as  clay,  silica, 
phosphorus,  and  a  variety  of  impurities  which  are  with  diffi- 
culty separated  from  the  metal,  enter  into  the  composition  of 
those  which  supply  the  greatest  part  of  our  iron ;  but  this  de- 
ficiency is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  many  advantages. 
Most  of  the  British  iron  mines  are  situated  in  those  districts 
where  coal  is  cheapest,  the  ore  being  often  even  raised  from 
the  same  pit  as  that  from  which  the  coal  is  extracted.  Lime- 
stone, the  necessary  flux,  is  at  hand,  while  fire-clay,  no  un- 
important article  in  the  building  of  the  furnaces,  on  whose 
long- continued  working  so  much  depends,  is  found  in  the 
same  ground  as  the  ore  itself.  The  largest  and  most  com- 
plete manufactories  have  long  been  established  in  the  most 
convenient  places.  With  an  almost  unlimited  amount  of 
capital,  the  most  perfect  and  the  cheapest  communication 
by  water  is  open  to  all  parts  of  the  world ;  and  the  further 
processes  which  the  metal  has  to  undergo  are  performed  at 
once  on  the  spot  in  the  best  manner  and  at  the  smallest 
possible  expense.  No  other  land  can  boast  of  equal  or 
greater  facilities  for  the  production  of  an  unlimited  quantity 
of  cheap  iron,  so  that,  even  with  the  assistance  of  heavy 
protective  duties,  most  of  the  iron-producing  countries  of 
Europe  find  it  difficult  to  compete  in  their  own  markets  with 
the  produce  of  Great  Britain. 

The  art  of  making  iron  in  this  country  is  of  very  ancient 


MATERIALS   FOR   IRON   SMELTING.  349 

though  of  unascertained  date.  It  was  probably  found  by  the 
Bomans  in  a  far  advanced  state.  It  certainly  was  carried  on 
by  them  subsequently  to  a  great  extent — a  fact  proved  by  the 
immense  beds  of  iron  cinders  discovered  in  the  Forest  of  Dean; 
nor  has  it  ever  been  discontinued  by  the  other  races  who 
in  succession  have  held  sway  in  the  island.  But,  though  of 
such  ancient  origin,  and  enjoying  so  many  natural  advan- 
tages, our  iron  manufacture  remained  confined  within  very 
narrow  limits  so  long  as  the  ore  was  exclusively  smelted  by 
means  of  charcoal  made  from  wood.  The  manufacture  was 
even  for  some  time  partially  prohibited  in  England,  the  con- 
sumption of  wood-charcoal  in  the  process  of  smelting  being 
so  great  as  to  create  apprehensions  that,  if  care  were  not 
taken  of  the  remaining  forests,  enough  timber  would  not  be 
left  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  navy.  It  seems  almost  in- 
credible in  our  days  that  Acts  were  passed  in  the  reigns  of 
Elizabeth  and  James  forbidding  the  felling  of  timber  for  the 
smelting  of  iron,  except  in  certain  districts  of  Kent,  Sussex, 
and  Surrey,  then  the  principal  seats  of  the  manufacture, 
and  even  there  the  erection  of  new  works  was  expressly  for- 
bidden. 

Attention  was  then  directed  to  the  smelting  of  ironstone 
by  means  of  pit  coal.  Amongst  others,  Lord  Dudley  gal- 
lantly struggled  to  establish  a  manufactory  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Stourbridge,  and  partially  succeeded ;  but  what  with 
riots  among  the  ironworkers,  who  destroyed  his  works,  and 
the  wars  of  the  Great  Eebellion,  which  ruined  his  fortune,  he 
reaped  no  advantage  from  his  enterprise.  Nothing  contri- 
buted to  arrest  the  decline  in  this  branch  of  trade,  and  towards 
the  middle  of  last  century  the  number  of  furnaces,  which  in 
the  reign  of  James  I.  had  amounted  to  300,  fell  off  to  59,  the 
total  make  of  which  amounted  to  not  more  than  17,350  tons, 
being  an  average  of  294  tons  per  annum  for  each  furnace,  a 
quantity  very  little  exceeding  that  sometimes  made  in  a 
single  week  in  some  of  the  huge  furnaces  in  Wales  in  the 
present  day.  The  partial  use  of  pit  coal  in  the  process  of 
smelting  was  revived  in  Coalbrookdale,  in  Shropshire,  about 
1713.  The  chief  difficulty  was  to  keep  the  coal  in  a  state  of 
combustion  sufficiently  intense  for  the  purpose  of  smelting 
the  ore ;   the  hand- worked  bellows,  or  the  more  powerful 


350  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

water  movement,  which,  produced  blast  enough  for  charcoal, 
having  comparatively  little  effect  upon  coal. 

This  obstacle  was  finally  overcome  through  the  perseverance 
and  enterprise  of  Dr.  John  Roebuck  (a  physician  in  Birming- 
ham, and  grandfather  of  the  late  distinguished  member  for 
Sheffield),  who,  seeking  for  more  economical  methods  of 
smelting  iron  ore  than  those  then  in  use,  founded  in  1759 
the  now  celebrated  Carron  Works,  where  John  Smeaton, 
the  illustrious  architect  of  the  Eddy  stone  lighthouse, 
first  introduced  (1760)  a  new  contrivance  for  throwing 
a  powerful  and  constant  blast  into  the  furnace.  By  means 
of  a  forcing  pump,  a  large  column  of  air,  of  triple  or  quad- 
ruple density  to  that  which  had  been  previously  obtained, 
could  now  be  poured  into  the  furnace ;  and  effects  equiva- 
lent to  this  great  improvement  followed.  The  same  smelting 
oven  that  formely  yielded  ten  or  twelve  tons  weekly  now 
sometimes  produced  forty  tons  in  the  same  period ;  and  such 
was  the  impulse  given  to  the  trade  by  this  unexpected  suc- 
cess of  a  powerful  blast  with  pit  coal  that  in  1788  the  manu- 
facture of  pig-iron  in  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland  amounted 
to  68,300  tons,  being  an  increase  of  50,950  tons  on  the 
quantity  manufactured  previous  to  the  introduction  of  pit 
coal. 

In  1782  Mr.  Cort,  after  many  years  of  experiments,  disco- 
vered the  means  of  converting  cast  or  pig-iron  into  malleable 
iron  by  a  process  which  was  at  once  sure,  rapid,  and  economi- 
cal. The  iron  is  remelted  in  a  puddling  furnace,  as  it  is 
called,  which  is  heated  with  raw  coal,  and  there,  by  a  series 
of  operations,  the  object  of  which  is  to  give  the  iron  mallea- 
bility and  toughness  by  expelling  the  carbon,  it  is  manipu- 
lated until  it  acquires  the  consistency  of  a  solid  white-hot  ball. 
In  this  shape  it  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  an  enormous 
hammer,  by  which  the  coarser  parts  are  beaten  from  it,  and 
it  is  formed  into  the  shape  of  thick  short  bars,  called  blooms 
or  slabs.  While  still  red-hot  it  is  passed  through  a  series  of 
grooved  rollers,  till  it  is  drawn  out  into  a  long  bar,  the  exact 
dimensions  of  which  are  regulated  by  the  requirements  of 
the  manufacture  for  which  it  is  destined.  The  bars  thus  made 
are  technically  called  puddled  bars,  and  considered  as  half- 
manufactured  iron.     To  refine  them  into  merchaMt-iron,  they 


INVENTIONS   OF   CORT   AND   WATT.  351 

are  again  submitted  to  the  action  of  fire,  and,  when  hot 
enough,  are  welded  together  and  formed  into  the  various 
denominations  of  bars,  rods,  hoops,  sheets,  or  plates.  Mr. 
Cort's  discovery,  though  of  immense  importance,  would  yet 
have  proved  of  comparatively  small  value  without  the  aid  of 
the  double-power  steam-engine,  which  was  about  the  same 
time  invented  by  James  Watt,  and  supplied  the  power  which 
was  needed  to  give  our  iron-works  their  full  development. 

Hitherto  the  'top  measures'  only  of  the  mineral  had  been 
worked,  and  generally  on  '  the  rise  of  the  mine,'  where  the 
water  would  not  lie,  or  those  strata  favourably  situated  on 
the  side  of  a  hill  where  levels  could  be  driven  in  and  the 
water  released.  Water  was  the  great  enemy  in  the  pits,  and 
even  in  shallow  workings  it  often  accumulated  faster  than  a 
gin  turned  by  horse-power  could  bring  it  to  the  surface. 
By  the  new  agency  of  steam  the  deepest  pits  were  drained, 
and  materials  were  drawn  up  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
in  a  quantity  and  with  a  rapidity  and  security  hitherto  un- 
known. By  the  same  means  that  prodigious  blast  was 
obtained  for  the  furnaces  to  which  all  subsequent  improve- 
ments of  the  manufacture  owe  their  origin.  Instead  of  the 
rude  machinery  of  waterwheels  and  bellows,  huge  engines 
of  enormous  power  forced  an  immense  volume  of  air  through 
several  small  tuyeres  or  tubes  so  disposed  at  the  lower  part 
of  the  furnaces  that  in  each  portion  of  the  ignited  mass  an 
equally  diffused  blast  might  raise  an  equal  intensity  of  heat. 
Furnaces  of  greater  height  and  much  larger  capacity  than 
any  hitherto  known  were  erected,  and  in  its  general  aspect 
the  iron  manufacture  assumed  very  much  the  appearance 
which  it  maintains  at  the  present  day. 

Most  readers  are  aware  *  that  the  flaming  towers  which 
give  such  an  unearthly  effect  at  night  to  what  is  called  the 
Black  Country,  round  Wolverhampton,  are  iron  furnaces,  and 
that  the  projecting  circular  galleries  which  surround  their 
tops  are  contrived  for  pouring  down  their  capacious  throats, 
by  apertures  placed  at  equal  distances,  an  equable  and  regular 
supply  of  the  materials  with  which  they  are  fed.  Besides 
the  iron-stone  and  the  fuel,  there  is  needed  a  third  substance, 
which  is  called  '  a  flux,'  because  it  forms  a  fusible  compound 

*  'Quarterly  Review,'  vol.  cix.  p.  114. 


352 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


with  the  earthy  matter  of  the  mineral.  When  we  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  foreign  matter  in  combination  with  the 
ore,  chemistry  tells  us  what  substance  we  ought  to  add  for 


BLAST  FURNACE. 


a.  Tuyeres. 

the  purpose  of  eliminating  the  metal.  Among  the  wonderful 
provisions  of  nature  for  the  convenience  of  man,  none  is 
more  remarkable  than  that  by  which  many  substances  are 
fusible  in  conjunction  at  a  temperature  which  either  could 
resist  separately.  The  British  ores  are  for  the  most  part 
argillaceous,  that  is  to  say,  they  are  combined  with  what,  in 
its  general  character  and  appearance,  resembles  clay.  To 
all  such  limestone  in  due  proportion  must  be  added ;  but  if 
the  earthy  matter  consists  of  lime,  clay  is  the  proper  flux. 
In  either  case  the  foreign  matter  and  the  flux  are  fused  into  one 
substance.  The  liberated  iron  sinks  downwards,  and  having 
now  itself  become  fusible  by  the  combination  of  carbon,  with 
which  it  has  been  impregnated  by  the  fuel,  it  melts  as  it 
reaches  the  point  of  fusion,  and  settles  down  in  the  lowest  part 
of  the  furnace,  otherwise  called  the  hearth.  It  is  followed  by 
the  scoria,  slag,  or  4  cinder'  (as  it  is  always  called  in  the 
trade),  composed  of  the  flux,  the  foreign  matter  of  the  ores, 
and  the  ashes  of  the  fuel,  which  are  now  in  a  vitrified  state ; 


BENEFITS   OF   THE   HOT   BLAST.  353 

and  this  artificial  lava,  being  of  mnch  less  specific  gravity, 
rests  on  the  surface  of  the  iron  and  protects  it  from  the  action 
of  the  blast.  The  furnace  is  '  continued  in  blast,'  that  is  to 
say,  in  full  operation,  and  must  be  fed  equably  and  constantly 
night  and  day,  till  the  manufacturer  thinks  fit  to  blow  it 
out,  either  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  it,  or  of  reducing  his 
make  of  iron.  At  certain  intervals,  generally  twice  in  the 
twenty-four  hours,  the  furnace  is  tapped ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  stoppage  of  sand  which  closes  an  orifice  at  the  bottom 
is  knocked  away,  the  liquefied  metal  rushes  out,  and  is  guided 
successively  into  moulds  of  sand  in  the  form  of  short  thick 
bars,  which,  by  a  rude  metaphor,  as  old  as  the  invention  of 
casting,  are  called  '  pigs,'  while  the  main  channel  down 
which  the  red-hot  torrent  flows  is  called  the  '  sow.' 

The  invention  of  the  hot  blast  gave  a  new  and  mighty  im- 
pulse to  the  production  of  iron.  Though  Mr.  Scrivenor* 
mentions  the  remarkable  fact  that  in  the  furnaces  of  Peru  a 
contrivance  has  been  noticed  for  letting  the  air  pass  over  hot 
coals,  and  thus  become  heated  in  its  passage  to  the  fire,  yet 
it  was  personal  observation,  and  not  archaeological  research, 
that,  in  1829,  suggested  to  Mr.  Neilson,  of  the  Clyde  Iron 
Works,  the  possibility  of  economising  fuel  by  substituting  hot 
for  cold  air  in  blowing  his  furnaces.  Before  this  important 
discovery  more  than  eight  tons  of  coke  had  been  required  to 
produce  one  ton  of  pig-iron ;  but  on  heating  the  blast,  pre- 
viously to  its  entering  the  smelting- oven,  to  a  temperature  of 
300°  F.,  it  was  found  that  a  saving  of  two  and  a  half  tons  of 
coal  could  be  made  on  every  ton  of  iron,  and  on  raising  it  to 
the  temperature  of  600°  F. — a  heat  somewhat  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  melt  lead — a  still  more  considerable  saving  of  fuel 
was  effected,  while  at  the  same  time  the  important  discovery 
was  made  that  at  this  high  temperature  bituminous  and  even 
anthracitic  coal  might  be  used  instead  of  coke.  Another 
advantage  was  that  the  same  steam  power  now  sufficed  for 
applying  the  blast  to  four  furnaces  which  had  formerly  been 
required  for  three ;  and  the  total  result  of  the  improvement 
was  a  saving  of  72  per  cent,  of  fuel.  Thus  we  have  here 
another  instance  of  the  important  results  that  may  be  gained 

*  '  History  of  tho  Iron  Trade.' 
A  A. 


354  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

from  a  single  good  idea  when  worked  out  by  clever  practical 
men,  for  the  hot  blast  has  most  assuredly  increased  the  wealth 
of  England  by  many  millions  a  year  ! 

Another  circumstance  likewise  tended  considerably  to  in- 
crease the  production  of  pig-iron.  It  was  found  that  the  hot 
blast  not  only  had  power  sufficient  to  produce  in  the  raw 
coal  the  requisite  intensity  of  heat,  but  also  to  expel  from  it, 
to  a  certain  extent,  the  sulphur,  which  injured  the  quality  of 
the  iron,  and  thus  a  great  economy  in  labour  as  well  as  in  the 
quantity  of  fuel  was  effected.  Since  then  the  black-banc!,  an 
iron-stone  found  in  great  quantities  in  Scotland,  and  also,  to 
a  less  extent,  in  Wales,  but  not  readily  convertible  into  iron 
by  the  old  methods,  and  also  the  Northamptonshire  and  the 
Cleveland  ores,  discoveries  of  a  later  date  and  of  an  incalcu- 
lable extent,  have  been  made  by  the  hot  blast  to  yield  their 
iron  in  great  abundance. 

The  power  of  using  the  black-band  alone  in  the  furnace, 
and  not,  as  before  the  introduction  of  the  hot  blast,  in 
small  quantities  only,  and  combined  with  other  ores,  con- 
stituted a  new  era  in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  and  gave 
to  Scotland,  till  then  an  iron-making  district  of  little 
importance,*  the  pre-eminence  over  all  others  for  the  pro- 
duction of  soft  fluid  iron,  best  suited  to  ordinarv  founding 
purposes. 

The  Cleveland  district,  formerly  unknown  in  metallurgy,  is 
now  the  seat  of  a  vast  industry,  keeping  more  than  a  hun- 
dred furnaces  in  blast. 

The  head-quarters  of  this  new  iron-country  are  established 
at  Middlesborough,  on  whose  site  there  existed  but  one  house 
in  1829,  but  which  in  1861  had  grown  into  a  town  of  24,000 
inhabitants,  and  still  increases  at  the  rate  of  1,000  a  year. 
Branch  railways  bring  the  stone  here  for  smelting  from  all 
the  neighbouring  quarries,  and  the  dense  cloud  of  smoke  that 
hangs  over  the  place  serves  as  a  land-mark,  not  only  from 
the  high  ground  of  Yorkshire,  but  even  from  some  parts  of 
Westmoreland. 


*  The  metal  was  formerly  so  scarce  in  their  country  that  in  the  times  of  the 
Edwards  the  Scotch  were  accustomed  to  make  predatory  incursions  into  England 
for  the  sake  of  the  iron  they  could  carry  off.  Now  they  not  only  manufacture 
sufficient  for  their  own  use,  hut  actually  export  above  half-a-million  tons. 


AMOUNT   OF   IRON   MANUFACTURE.  355 

But  Middlesborough,  '  the  youngest  child  of  England's 
enterprise  '  as  it  has  been  called  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  is  by  no 
means  one  of  the  loveliest  of  her  offspring.  Scarcely  a  blade 
of  grass  and  not  a  single  tree  relieves  the  dull  monotony  of  its 
dreary  streets  of  small  houses,  darkened  by  perpetual  smoke, 
which,  as  the  wind  sways  it,  affords,  at  rare  intervals,  glimpses 
of  distant  hills  or  of  the  Tees,  serving  only  to  make  the  prison 
of  a  town  more  gloomy.  Mines  and  furnaces  have  also 
been  established  in  other  parts  of  the  district — in  Rhosdale,  at 
Grosmont  near  Whitby,  and  elsewhere — and  not  a  year  passes 
without  the  opening  of  new  veins  and  the  rising  of  new 
smoke-clouds  amid  the  lovely  dales  of  north-western  York- 
shire. The  iron  which  eventually  finds  its  way  to  Middles- 
borongh  is  sent  thence  to  every  part  of  the  world.  Its 
quality  is  essentially  inferior  to  that  derived  from  the  coal- 
measures  ;  but  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  for  mixing  with  the 
finer  classes,  it  is  of  great  value.  Looking  to  the  future,  we 
cannot  doubt  that  the  Middlesborough  district  is  destined 
to  have  no  rival  in  any  part  of  the  world,  for  even  now 
its  works  compete  in  magnitude  with  those  of  our  old  iron 
fields. 

A  material  which  had  hitherto  been  thrown  away  was 
also,  by  the  agency  of  the  hot  blast,  made  available  for  the 
purposes  of  the  iron  master.  The  6  tap  cinder,'  or  refuse  of 
the  puddling  furnace,  which  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
cinder  of  the  blast  furnace,  contains  a  considerable  percentage 
of  metal,  and  when  thrown  again  into  the  furnace  greatly 
increases  the  yield,  though  it  proportionally  deteriorates  the 
quality  of  the  iron.  The  results  of  all  these  successive  dis- 
coveries and  innovations,  aided  by  the  facilities  of  transport 
afforded  by  canals  and  railroads,  are  truly  astonishing. 

The  make  of  iron  which,  on  the  introduction  of  steam,  had 
suddenly  risen  to  nearly  50,000  tons  per  annum,  reached 
125,000  in  1796,  and  in  1806  had  advanced  to  nearly 
260,000.  In  1825  the  make  was  nearly  600,000  tons ;  in 
1840  it  amounted  to  1,300,000  tons;  and  in  1854  to 
2,700,000  tons.  In  1865  it  reached  the  enormous  figure  of 
4,819,254  tons — as  much  as  the  combined  production  of 
Continental  Europe  and  the  United   States ;  and  there  is 

A  A  2 


356  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

little  doubt  that  the  present  yield  does  not  fall  much  short 
of  6,000,000  tons !  A  similar  colossal  expansion  is  without  a 
parallel  in  the  annals  of  metallurgic  industry. 

The  chief  districts  which  furnish  this  incredible  quantity 
of  iron  are  situated  in  Yorkshire,  South  Wales,  Staffordshire, 
Durham,  Lancashire,  Cumberland,  Shropshire,  Derbyshire, 
and  the  West  of  Scotland. 

The  number  of  furnaces  in  blast  in  1865  were,  in  England 
376,  distributed  over  176  iron-works;  in  Wales  135,  dis- 
tributed over  49  works ;  and  in  Scotland  141,  over  32. 
To  supply  these  furnaces  there  were  raised  9,910,045 
tons  of  ore,  the  estimated  value  of  which  at  the  place 
of  production  was  3,324,804L,  that  of  the  pig-iron,  at 
the  mean  average  cost  at  the  place  of  production,  being 
12,048,133Z. 

Of  the  iron-stone,  1,384,500  tons  were  argillaceous 
carbonate  from  the  coal-measures  of  Staffordshire  and 
Worcestershire ;  3,166,000  tons  from  the  Yorkshire  mines ; 
nearly  1,500,000  tons  from  the  coal-measures  of  North  and 
and  South  Wales,  and  1,500,000  tons  argillaceous  carbonate 
from  Scotland. 

Of  the  red  hematites  of  Whitehaven  and  Ulverstone, 
which  consist  almost  entirely  of  peroxide  of  iron,  and  are 
reckoned  among  our  best  ores,  214,433  tons  were  smelted  at 
the  spot,  and  937,386  tons  exported  for  the  sirpply  of 
Staffordshire,  South  Wales,  and  other  districts. 

The  brown  hematite  (brown  oxide  of  iron)  of  the  Forest 
of  Dean,  where  the  ore  exists  in  almost  unlimited  quantity, 
is  raised  exclusively  for  shipment  to  the  iron-works  of  South 
Wales.  Though  not  rich,  yet,  from  the  great  masses  in 
which  it  is  found,  its  cost  of  production  is  very  low. 

The  finest  iron  ores,  such  as  the  black  oxide  or  magnetite, 
specular  iron,  and  spathose  iron,  or  sphserosiderite,  which 
furnish  the  best  kinds  of  iron,  are  unfortunately  but  of 
rare  occurrence  in  Great  Britain. 

As  we  see  by  the  following  table  *  of  the  production  of 
cast  iron  in  the  chief  European  mining  States — 

*  From  the  official  reports  of  the  International  Jury  of  the  Universal  Exhibition 
of  1867  in  Paris. 


EUROPEAN   SUPPLIES   OP   IRON. 


357 


Countries 

Years 

Tons 

Years 

Tons 

Great  Britain   . 

1840 

1,400,000 

1865 

4,527,000 

France 

1845 

271,000 

1864 

1,213,000 

Prussia 

1835 

32,800 

1865 

772,000 

Belgium 

1845 

134,500 

1864 

450,000 

Russia 

1838 

171,000 

1865 

278,000 

Austria 

1835 

200,000 

1865 

259,000 

Sweden 

1835 

97,500 

1865 

227,000 

Spain 

1850 

26,000 

1865 

48,000 

Italy 

1838 

20,000 

1865 

27,000 

France  occupied  the  next  rank  to  Great  Britain  in  1864 ; 
but  since  1866  Prussia,  besides  the  rapid  development  of  the 
iron  industry  in  Westphalia  and  the  Rhenish  provinces, 
has  acquired  new  and  valuable  mines  by  the  annexation  of 
Hanover  and  Nassau.  Her  production,  had  consequently 
risen  to  1,000,000  tons  in  1868,  and  probably  the  time  is 
not  far  distant  when  she  will  have  outstripped  France. 
Nassau  possesses  inexhaustible  supplies  of  specular  iron  ore 
of  a  remarkable  purity,  which  not  only  feed  the  blast  furnaces 
of  Westphalia,  but  are  also  largely  exported  to  England. 

In  proportion  to  the  smallness  of  her  territory  Belgium 
rivals  Great  Britain  in  the  production  of  iron,  supplied  ex- 
clusively by  the  brown  oxide  (brown  hematite),  and  surpasses 
the  vast  empire  of  the  Czar. 

But  Russia  has  the  advantage  over  all  the  countries  pre- 
viously mentioned  of  possessing  inexhaustible  deposits  of 
magnetic  iron  ore  (magnetic  loadstone — magnetite)  which 
affords  bar-iron  of  the  very  best  quality  ;  and  though  hitherto 
the  immense  distances  which  separate  the  mines  from  the 
larger  centres  of  consumption  have  retarded  the  progress  of 
the  iron  manufacture,  the  construction  of  railroads  is  gradu- 
ally overcoming  these  obstacles,  and  possibly  even  the  now 
unworked  Siberian  mines  of  the  Altai  and  of  Transbaikalia, 
where  coal  is  found  along  with  iron,  may  acquire  importance 
at  a  not  far  distant  time.  At  present  the  chain  of  the  Oural 
(Permia  and  Orenburg)  furnishes  nine -tenths  of  all  the  iron 
produced  in  the  empire.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  Ouralian 
mines  is  the  famous  magnetic  mountain  Wissokaja  Gora, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mshne-Tagilsk,  which  Peter  the 
Great  bestowed  in  1702  on  the  armourer  Nikita  Demidoff  of 
Tula,  along  with  a  vast  extent  of  forests  and  arable  land. 


258  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

This  magnetic  mountain  or  hill,  which  is  300  fathoms  long, 
250  broad,  and  240  feet  high,  rises  from  the  midst  of  a 
plain,  in  the  form  of  a  broad,  flat  eminence.  It  consists 
almost  entirely  of  pure  magnetic  iron  ore,  and  is  worked 
like  an  open  quarry ;  but,  on  account  of  its  hardness, 
the  ore  requires  to  be  blasted  with  powder.  Although 
many  millions  of  tons  have  been  extracted  from  it  since 
it  first  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Demidoff  family,  it 
may  easily  be  imagined  that  a  mass  of  at  least  600,000,000 
cubic  feet  of  iron-ore  is  not  easily  removed,  and  will  outlast 
the  labours  of  many  generations.  The  quantity  of  cast-iron 
annually  produced  amounts  to  25,500  tons,  which  is  converted, 
partly  at  Nishne-Tagilsk  and  partly  in  the  neighbouring 
forges,  into  bar-iron,  anchors,  kettles,  scythes,  nails,  wire,  &c. 
The  excellent  quality  of  the  iron  allows  it  to  be  rolled  into 
very  thin  plates,  which  are  frequently  made  use  of  in  Russia 
for  the  roofing  of  houses,  and  are  also  manufactured  at 
Nishne-Tagilsk  into  lacquered  wares,  which  find  a  ready  sale 
throughout  the  whole  of  European  and  Asiatic  Russia. 

The  iron- working  industry  of  Austria  has  its  chief  seats  in 
Styria,  Carinthia,  Transylvania,  and  Bohemia,  and,  though  out 
of  proportion  with  the  vast  natural  resources  of  the  empire, 
has  of  late  made  rapid  progress.  The  ores,  which  are  of  an 
excellent  quality,  are  mostly  smelted  with  charcoal,  as  they 
are  generally  situated  at  a  great  distance  from  the  coal 
mines.  The  Noric  or  Styrian  iron  has  enjoyed  an  excellent 
reputation  ever  since  the  time  of  the  Romans,  when  the 
imperial  manufactory  of  Laureacum  on  the  Danube  supplied 
the  legions  with  swords  and  javelins. 

In  a  pass  of  the  Styrian  Alps,  between  the  valleys  of  the 
Mux-  and  the  Enns,  lies  one  of  the  most  remarkable  iron  mines 
in  the  world,  the  famous  Erzberg  or  iron-mountain,  which 
rises  to  a  height  of  3,000  feet,  and  whose  summit  and  sides 
are  almost  everywhere  coated  with  a  thick  mantle  of  the 
richest  ore.  Authentic  records  show  that  it  has  been  worked 
ever  since  the  year  712;  and  probably  the  Romans  derived  a 
part  of  their  Noric  iron  from  this  source,  as  the  ore  is  not 
here  concealed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  but  crops  out  on 
the  surface,  near  a  mountain  pass  which  was  undoubtedly 
known  to  them.     As  at  Nishne-Ta-gilsk,  the  ore  thus  con- 


SWEDISH    IRON   OEE.  359 

veniently  situated  is  quarried  from  the  mountain,  and  thus 
in  course  of  time  extensive  excavations  or  grottoes  have 
been  formed  all  over  its  surface,  affording  a  most  interesting 
spectacle.  The  bottom  of  these  iron-stone  pits  is  irregularly 
strewn  with  large  blocks  of  ore  through  which  wind 
narrow  footpaths.  Roads  lead  from  one  pit  to  the  other, 
and  close  by  are  situated  the  small  huts  in  each  of  which  ten 
or  twenty  of  the  miners  sleep  as  long  as  the  working  season 
lasts,  for  their  families  generally  live  lower  down  in  the 
deeper  valleys.  On  the  top  of  the  mountain  stands  a  colossal 
crucifix  of  iron,  near  which  an  annual  thanksgiving  feast 
is  celebrated.  Though  the  mines  are  easily  worked,  the 
conveyance  of  their  produce  to  the  smelting-ovens  of  Eisenerz 
and  Vordernberg  is  a  matter  of  much  greater  difficulty, 
and  requires  numerous  tram-roads,  galleries,  and  shafts, 
through  which  the  ore  is  precipitated  from  a  higher  to  a 
lower  level.  At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  they  all  unite  in 
one  main  shaft,  which  leads  into  a  gallery  ornamented  with 
a  monumental  gate.  Thus  the  whole  of  the  Erzberg  is 
covered  with  various  machines,  pits,  horizontal  and  vertical 
galleries,  tunnels,  and  roads,  and  represents  as  it  were  a  mine 
turned  inside  out,  where  all  the  operations  which  are  elsewhere 
performed  underground  are,  as  at  the  Carclaze  tin-mine  in 
Cornwall,  exposed  to  the  open  day.  Here,  instead  of  dirty 
and  dangerous  ladders,  convenient  footpaths,  bordered  with 
trees  and  illumined  by  the  sun,  lead  from  gallery  to  gallery 
and  from  pit  to  pit,  and  instead  of  being  confined  in  dismal 
passages,  the  miner  enjoys  magnificent  views  of  the  grandest 
Alpine  scenery.  The  annual  produce  of  the  Erzberg  amounts 
to  25,000  tons  of  excellent  iron,  as  the  ore  (sparry  iron, 
carbonate  of  iron,  sphserosiderite)  is  nearly  as  pure  as  the 
magnetic  iron-stone  of  Russia,  and  affords  natural  steel 
with  the  greatest  facility.  The  railroad  now  being  built 
in  Styria  will  no  doubt  greatly  increase  this  production, 
which  might  be  continued  for  many  thousand  years  without 
exhausting  the  vast  mineral  wealth  which  Nature  has  here 
deposited. 

Though  Sweden  furnishes  but  an  insignificant  quantity  of 
iron  when  measured  by  an  English  scale,  yet,  in  point  of 
quality,  its  produce  is  unrivalled  in  the  world.     The  purest 


360  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

iron-ores  (magnetic  iron-stone)  abound  in  the  mountain 
chains  which  traverse  the  kingdom,  and  immense  forests 
afford  almost  inexhaustible  supplies  of  charcoal  for  their 
smelting,  so  that  hitherto  the  want  of  roads  has  alone  pre- 
vented the  production  of  iron  from  attaining  dimensions  equal 
to  the  natural  resources  of  the  country.  Many  of  the  richest 
mines,  particularly  in  the  more  northern  provinces,  have  never 
yet  been  worked,  as  for  instance  the  enormous  mounds  of 
magnetic  iron-ore  at  Gellivara  (67°  JST.  lat.)  in  Swedish  Lapland, 
beyond  the  Arctic  circle,  which,  from  their  situation  in  a  polar 
desert,  have  hitherto  been  totally  useless.  In  1865  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  utilize  them  by  means  of  a  railroad  and 
the  canalization  of  the  river  Luleo,  but  after  a  heavy  expense 
the  works  were  finally  abandoned. 

Thus  the  manufacture  of  iron,  which,  under  more  favourable 
circumstances,  would  reach  as  far  as  its  ores  extend,  is  confined 
to  Dalecarlia,  the  more  central  provinces  of  Kopperberg, 
Wer inland,  and  Upsala,  where  the  celebrated  mines  of 
Dannemora,  which  furnish  the  fine  Oeregrund  iron,  largely 
imported  into  England  for  the  manufacture  of  steel,  deserve 
our  particular  notice,  both  for  their  ancient  renown  and 
their  wild  and  colossal  grandeur.  An  excellent  road  leads 
from  the  famous  university  town  of  Upsala  to  Old  Upsala, 
old  and  hoary  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  for  its  church 
dates  from  the  Pagan  times,  and  close  by  rise  three  tumuli 
which,  according  to  popular  tradition,  contain  the  remains 
of  no  less  important  personages  than  Odin,  Thor,  and  the 
divine  Freya. 

Further  on  towards  the  north-east,  six  geographical  miles 
from  Upsala,  lie  the  iron-works  of  Oesterby,  remarkable  for 
their  beautiful  situation  in  a  natural  park  of  forests  and  lakes, 
and  thence  half  an  hour's  walk  over  the  plain  brings  one  to 
the  far-famed  pit  of  Dannemora. 

The  country  around  is  perfectly  level,  a  succession  of  pine- 
woods  and  open  grounds,  and  no  sign  announces  the  vicinity 
of  the  mine,  until  at  length  the  traveller  sees  a  few  huts  and 
some  machines  for  lifting  the  ore,  and  then  suddenly  stands 
on  the  brink  of  an  enormous  pit,  or  rather  of  a  vast  crater, 
whose  black  and  precipitous  walls  inclose  an  area  of  at  least 
a  mile  in  circumference.     On  looking  down  into  the  abyss, 


MINES   OF   OESTERBY   AND   DANNEMORA.  361 

which  descends  to  a  depth  of  450  feet,  and  is  here  and  there 
enlivened  with  patches  of  perennial  snow,  he  perceives  along 
its  black  walls  the  still  blacker  entrances  to  labyrinthine  caves 
fringed  in  some  parts  with  long  stalactites  of  ice  of  aquamarine 
transparency  and  colour.  From  some  of  these  hollows  the 
flames  of  piles  of  fir- wood  are  seen  to  creep  along  the  hard  rock 
which  they  are  to  soften,  and  the  deep  gulf  is  animated  by 
troops  of  miners,  the  distant  clang  of  whose  hammers,  closely 
resembling  the  clicking  of  a  number  of  clocks,  forms  a  strange 
concert  with  the  creaking  noise  of  the  machinery.  Attracted 
by  the  novelty  of  the  interesting  sight,  the  eye  wanders  from 
one  object  to  another,  and  time  steals  on  rapidly  and  un- 
perceived — when  suddenly  a  bell  tolls,  and  the  scene  as 
suddenly  changes. 

It  is  noon,  and  the  tuns,  which  before  were  hauled  up  from 
the  deep  laden  with  ore,  are  now  seen  ascending  with  a 
living  freight — men,  women,  and  children — standing  quite 
unconcernedly  on  the  narrow  edge  of  the  tub,  and  holding 
with  one  hand  the  chain  to  which  it  is  attached. 

Soon  a  deathlike  silence  reigns  in  the  pit — a  striking  con- 
trast with  the  noise  and  life  it  erewhile  displayed — and  now 
loud  shouts  are  heard,  warning  all  those  who  may  have 
remained  behind  that  the  battery  prepared  during  the 
previous  working  hours  is  about  to  explode.  Again  a  pro- 
found silence — and  then  loud  thunder  bursts  forth,  with  many 
an  echo,  from  the  depth  of  the  abyss. 

For  several  minutes  the  whole  neighbourhood  trembles  as 
if  shaken  by  an  earthquake.  Through  the  black  clouds  of 
smoke  which  ascend  from  the  gulf,  pieces  of  stone  or  ore  are 
hurled  upwards,  frequently  far  beyond  the  brink  of  the  pit, 
and  most  of  the  detonations  are  followed  by  the  crash  of  the 
falling  fragments  rent  by  the  explosion  from  the  mother- 
rock. 

For  many  centuries  this  remarkable  mine  has  afforded 
employment  to  many  hundreds  of  workmen,  without  showing 
any  signs  of  exhaustion,  for  its  mighty  mass  of  magnetic  iron- 
ore  descends  to  an  unknown  depth  and  seems  to  be  practically 
inexhaustible. 

Though  the  mineral  resources  of  Spain  are  immense,  yet 
its  iron-industry  is  so  little  developed  that  more  than  two- 


3C2  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

thirds  of  the  excellent  ores  of  Biscay,  instead  of  being  smelted 
in  the  country,  are  exported  to  France  and  England. 

In  Italy  the  red  oxide  and  magnetic  iron-stone  mines  of 
Elba  have  been  celebrated  since  the  remotest  antiquity,  but, 
from  the  want  of  fuel  on  the  island,  their  entire  produce, 
which  amounts  to  about  100,000  tons,  is  exported  to  the  coast 
of  Italy,  to  France,  and  to  England.  The  principal  mines  are 
situated  on  the  slope  of  a  steep  mountain  fronting  the  sea, 
and  are  divided  by  horizontal  terraces  into  five  stories  or  huge 
steps  communicating  with  each  other  by  means  of  oblique 
roads,  on  which  carts  convey  the  ores  to  the  shore.  Though 
worked  for  more  than  2,000  years,  the  mines,  which  occupy 
about  700  workmen,  are  apparently  able  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  remotest  posterity. 

On  turning  to  America  we  find  the  United  States  making 
gigantic  strides  in  the  extension  of  their  iron  manufacture, 
which  has  risen  from  347,000  tons  in  1840  to  1,200,000  tons 
in  1864;  and  as  here  none  of  the  elements  of  progress  are 
wanting — a  boundless  mineral  wealth,  liberal  institutions, 
which  allow  the  freest  scope  to  individual  energy,  and  an 
unrivalled  spirit  of  enterprise — there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt 
that  finally  the  United  States  must  become  the  first  iron- 
country  in  the  world.  The  masses  of  magnetic  iron-stone 
and  red  oxide  which  extend  along  Lake  Superior,  over  a 
length  of  120  miles  and  a  breadth  of  from  five  to  thirty,  would 
alone  suffice  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  whole  of  the 
human  race  for  many  thousands  of  years.  They  only  began 
to  be  worked  in  1849  ;  and  in  1866  the  railroad  which  leads 
from  the  mines  transported  204,454  tons  of  ore. 

The  thriving  town  of  Marquette,  the  central  point  of  this 
new  seat  of  industry,  was,  scarcely  twenty  years  ago,  a  com- 
plete wilderness,  where  the  Eed  Indian  pursued  the  beasts  of 
the  forest,  unconscious  that  the  treasures  concealed  beneath 
his  natal  soil  would  one  day  be  the  cause  of  his  expulsion 
from  the  hunting-grounds  of  his  fathers. 

The  State  of  Missouri  possesses  two  '  iron-mountains  '  simi- 
lar to  the  magnetic  mountain  of  the  Demidoff :  one  of  them 
called  Pilot  Knob  is  600  feet  high,  the  other  220.  An  immense 
mass  of  magnetic  oxide  has  also  been  discovered  in  California, 
near  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.    But  though 


MEXICAN   IRON   ORES.  363 

iron  is  found  in  abundance  in  many  parts  of  the  Union, 
(Tennessee,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  &c),  the 
States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  produce  by  far  the 
greatest  quantity. 

Brazil  and  the  island  of  Cuba  likewise  contain  vast  deposits 
of  the  richest  iron -ores;  and  in  Mexico  we  find  the  famous 
Cerro  del  Mercado,  an  iron-mountain  633  feet  high,  which 
rises  in  grotesque  form  from  the  valley  of  Durango.  This 
wonderful  mound  has  been  calculated  to  contain  3,244,000,000 
cubic  feet,  or  454,000,000  tons,  of  magnetic  iron  ore,  capable 
of  yielding  290,000,000  tons  of  cast  iron,  or  more  than  fifty 
times  the  annual  production  of  Great  Britain  !  A  more  in- 
dustrious and  civilised  race  would  here  find  a  boundless 
field  for  profitable  employment ;  but  the  indolent  Mexican, 
steeped  in  ignorance  and  falling  from  one  revolution  into 
another,  still  leaves  these  treasures  almost  untouched,  and, 
neglecting  the  vast  resources  of  his  country,  draws  nearly 
his  whole  supply  of  iron  from  the  distant  forges  of  Great 
Britain. 


£64  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

LEAD. 

Its  Properties  and  extensive  Uses — Alston  Moor — Belgian  Lead  Mines — Galena 
in  America — Extraction  of  Silver  from  Lead  Ores — Pattinson's  Process — A 
great  part  of  our  wealth  is  due  to  the  laboratory. 

LEAD  was  but  little  prized  by  the  ancients,  who,  un- 
acquainted with  gunpowder,  needed  no  bullets  for  war 
or  for  the  chase.  The  history  of  its  first  discovery  is  lost  in 
obscurity,  but  it  probably  became  known  much  later  than 
copper  or  tin,  as  less  metallurgic  skill  is  required  for  the 
smelting  of  the  cupreous  or  stanniferous  ores  than  for  the 
reduction  of  galena  or  sulphide  of  lead,  which  is  the  most 
abundant  of  the  plumbiferous  ores,  and  may  indeed  be 
regarded  as  the  only  commercial  ore  of  any  value,  if  we 
except  the  carbonates,  which  are  probably  formed  by  its 
decomposition. 

Lead,  however,  is  mentioned  both  in  the  Book  of  Job  and 
in  the  fourth  book  of  Moses,  '  Oh  !  that  my  words  were 
graven  with  an  iron  pen  on  tablets  of  lead,'  exclaims  the 
long-suffering  patriarch,  and  the  legislator  of  the  Jews 
commands  his  people  to  'make  go  through  the  fire,  gold, 
silver,  brass,  tin,  and  lead,  and  everything  that  may  abide 
it.'  The  Phoenicians,  who  provided  Greece  and  Egypt  with 
Spanish  lead,  frequently  made  use  of  this  metal  to  increase 
the  weight  of  their  anchors ;  and  Herodotus,  describing  a 
bridge  in  Babylon,  mentions  that  its  stones  were  fastened 
with  clasps  of  iron  soldered  with  lead.  The  physical 
properties  of  this  metal  qualify  it  for  a  great  variety  of 
uses.  As  it  is  but  little  altered  by  exposure  to  air  or  water, 
it  makes  excellent  pump-tubes  and  rain-gutters  ;  while  its 
considerable   weight,    its    softness,   its   flexibility,    and   the 


LEAD   MINES    OP   EUROPE.  365 

facility  with  whicli  it  melts  at  a  comparatively  low  tempe- 
rature render  it  an  invaluable  material  for  the  soldier's 
bullet  or  the  huntsman's  shot.  Combined  with  oxygen  it 
forms  the  pigment  called  red-lead,  or  minium,  and  united 
with  carbonic  acid  white-lead,  or  ceruse,  which  is  still  more 
frequently  used  in  painting. 

In  the  manufacture  of  glass  and  crystal  it  plays  an 
important  part,  as  it  forms  one  of  the  chief  ingredients  of 
flint-glass  and  crown-glass,  of  which,  as  is  well  known,  the 
achromatic  lenses  are  made  which  have  so  wonderfully 
improved  the  distinctness  of  our  telescopes.  United  with 
tin  it  forms  an  alloy  which  is  more  fusible  than  either  metal 
alone,  and  which  is  consequently  used  as  a  solder  by  the 
plumbers,  while  with  antimony  it  combines  into  a  hard  mass 
which  serves  to  make  letters  for  the  printing-press.  All 
these  various  uses  absorb  immense  quantities  of  lead,  and 
render  it  one  of  the  most  valuable  products  of  the  subter- 
ranean world. 

Among  the  lead  mines  of  Europe  we  find  the  first  rank 
occupied  by  those  of  Spain,  which  in  1863  furnished  the 
enormous  mass  of  309,940  tons  of  galena.  The  principal 
mines  are  situated  in  Guipuzcoa,  Catalonia^  Arragon,  the 
Sierra  Morena,  and,  above  all,  in  the  mountain  chain  of  the 
Alpuj  arras,  where  the  rocks  of  the  Sierra  Gador  are  every- 
where traversed  by  veins  of  galena.  The  production  of 
North  Germany  is  also  very  considerable.  In  1865  Prussia 
furnished  57,808  tons  of  galena,  and  the  Hanoverian  Hartz 
Mountains,  which  produced  101,411  tons  in  1864,  and  now 
belong  to  the  same  monarchy,  have  raised  its  previous  pro- 
duction to  a  threefold  amount. 

The  chief  lead  mines  of  England  are  situated  near  Alston 
Moor,  where  the  three  counties  of  Northumberland,  Durham, 
and  Cumberland  meet  together.  The  lofty  hills  of  the 
district,  bare  of  wood  and  almost  wholly  covered  with  marshy 
heaths,  are  intersected  by  the  valleys  through  which  run  the 
Tyne,  the  Wear,  and  the  Tees,  with  their  numerous  branches. 
The  country,  though  little  frequented  by  tourists,  is  wild  and 
picturesque ;  but  the  deep  gorges  with  which  it  is  furrowed 
have  more  than  a  mere  romantic  interest,  for  they  lay  open 
to  view  numerous  veins  of  ore,  and  direct  the  operations  of 


366  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

the  miner  to  the  places  where  it  is  sufficiently  abundant  to 
reward  his  toil.  The  town  of  Alston,  the  mining  centre  of 
the  district,  is  beautifully  situated  close  to  the  river  Tyne, 
which,  about  five  miles  above  it,  ascends,  between  lofty  hills, 
to  the  foot  of  Cross  Fell,  this  picturesque  mountain  giving  a 
character  of  considerable  grandeur  to  the  surrounding  scenery. 
The  mines  of  the  Alston  Moor  district  produce  annually  about 
25,000  tons  of  lead.  The  waters  are  drawn  off  by  long  adit 
levels,  and  the  ores  are  dragged  out  by  horses  to  the  day. 
This  region  extends  southward  to  the  Yorkshire  valleys  of 
Swaledale,  Arkendale,  and  to  Grassington,  where  numerous 
lead  mines  are  worked  under  very  similar  circumstances.  The 
Yorkshire  mines  yielded  in  1856  8,986  tons  of  lead. 

Another  important  lead  district  lies  in  the  northern  part  of 
Derbyshire,  in  the  hilly  country  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Peak,  so  well  known  and  so  often  visited  for  its  picturesque 
beauty.  The  mines  of  Derbyshire,  which  yield  annually  5,000 
tons  of  lead,  are  getting  exhausted ;  they  are  very  numerous, 
but  in  general  inconsiderable. 

Next  to  Alston  Moor  the  lead  mines  of  Flintshire  and  Den- 
bighshire are  the  most  productive,  furnishing  annually  nearly 
6,000  tons  of  lead.  An  important  group  of  veins  of  lead 
occurs  in  the  slaty  rocks  of  Cardiganshire  and  Montgomery- 
shire, all  of  which  have  an  E.W.  direction ;  although  so  far 
from  parallel  that  they  often  meet,  and  frequently  form  at 
such  points  of  intersection  '  courses  '  of  ore.  Some  of  these 
mines  were  very  profitably  worked  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  during  the  last  thirty  years  several  of  them  have  been 
highly  productive. 

There  are  considerable  lead  mines  in  the  south  of  Scotland, 
at  Wanlockhead  and  Leadhills  in  Lanarkshire;  and  those 
of  Strontian,  in  Argyleshire,  likewise  deserve  to  be  noticed. 
The  Isle  of  Man  has  two  important  lead  mines,  the  Foxdale 
and  Laxey,  the  former  remarkable  for  the  great  size  of 
its  main  lode.  The  elevated  tracts  of  Wicklow  likewise 
contain  some  valuable  lead  mines,  at  Luganure  and  Glen- 
malure.  In  1866  the  total  produce  of  our  lead  mines 
amounted  to  91,047  tons  of  galena,  which  yielded  67,390 
tons  of  metal. 

The   island   of    Sardinia,   already   renowned   among   the 


AMERICAN   LEAD   MINES.  367 

ancients  for  its  rich  lead  mines,  produces  about  15,000  tons, 
or  nearly  as  much  as  France,  where  however  the  extraction 
of  galena  has  of  late  years  made  considerable  progress. 

Belgium,  which  in  1841  produced  no  more  than  34  tons, 
raised  in  1864  no  less  than  16,780  tons,  chiefly  from  the 
mines  of  Bleyberg-a-Montzen,  situated  in  the  carboniferous 
limestone  near  Venders.  To  render  these  rich  deposits 
available,  vast  difficulties  had  to  be  surmounted  by  the  united 
powers  of  enterprise,  capital,  and  engineering  skill.  Rivers 
and  brooks,  diverted  from  their  ancient  course,  were  made  to 
flow  through  new  water-tight  channels,  arid  such  is  the 
amount  of  drainage  required  in  that  aquiferous  region  that 
engines  of  two  thousand  horse-power  have  to  raise  from  a 
depth  of  360  feet  a  daily  quantity  of  800,000  cubic  feet  of 
water. 

In  Greece  the  immense  mounds  of  scorise  accumulated 
near  the  ancient  silver  mines  of  Laurium,  have  been  found 
to  contain  about  ten  per  cent,  of  lead.  Their  total  mass  is 
estimated  at  no  less  than  3,000,000  tons,  and  they  afford 
a  convincing  proof  both  of  the  importance  of  the  ancient 
silver  production  of  Attica,  and  of  the  imperfection  of  the 
old  Athenian  mining  operations.  A  French  company  has 
lately  been  formed  for  smelting  this  prodigious  accumulation 
of  scorise,  once  cast  aside  as  rubbish. 

In  Siberia  the  famous  lead  mines  of  Eertschinsk,  where 
many  an  unfortunate  exile  is  doomed  to  end  his  days,  are 
worked  merely  for  the  silver  contained  in  them. 

In  South  America,  the  Chilian  lead  mine  of  Mina  Grande, 
near  Coquimbo,  is  renowned  for  its  extreme  richness,  and 
Brazil  has  considerable  veins  of  galena,  in  the  province  of 
Minas  Geraes;  but  probably  the  United  States  of  North 
America  (Wisconsin,  Arkansas,  Iowa,  Illinois),  possess  the 
largest  galena  deposits  in  the  world.  In  Wisconsin,  they 
extend  all  over  a  vast  territory  of  more  than  4,000  square 
miles.  As  yet  the  works  are  conducted  in  the  most  negligent 
manner,  by  a  crowd  of  adventurers.  In  winter,  when  the 
air  in  the  pits  is  more  salubrious,  and  agricultural  labour 
ceases,  needy  farmers,  bankrupt  traders,  and  thriftless  artisans 
flock  from  all  parts  to  the  lead  country  for  the  purpose  of 
repairing  their  broken  fortunes.     In  summer  when  malaria 


368  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

renders  the  pits  extremely  unhealthy,  this  nomadic  population 
melts  away  like  chaff  before  the  wind.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the 
rough  mode  of  extraction  which  prevails  in  the  American 
lead  country,  the  mines  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Illinois 
yielded  about  20,000  tons  of  lead  in  1866,  and  their  produce 
is  constantly  increasing. 

In  all  lead  mines,  the  galena  often  occurs  in  pieces  so 
large  that  they  do  not  require  to  be  separated  from  the  vein- 
stone by  the  processes  of  stamping  and  washing.  They  are 
then  called  pure  ores,  and  the  most  simple  preparation  is 
sufficient  to  prepare  them  for  the  smelting  furnace.  When 
the  ore  has  been  picked  and  so  far  prepared,  it  is  first 
roasted  or  heated  in  a  reverberatory  furnace,  an  operation 
which  causes  the  oxygen  of  the  air  to  combine  with  the 
two  elementary  bodies  of  which  galena  is  composed.  After 
undergoing  this  chemical  change,  the  ore  is  now  mixed  with 
coke,  charcoal,  or  peat,  and  reduced  by  smelting  in  a  small 
blast  furnace  of  a  peculiar  kind.  Under  the  influence  of 
heat,  the  carbon  of  the  coal,  uniting  with  the  oxygen  of  the 
ore,  flies  off  in  the  form  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  while  the 
metallic  lead,  which  in  the  finer  ores  amounts  to  70  or  80 
per  cent.,  sinks  to  the  bottom  of  the  furnace.  Almost  all  the 
varieties  of  galena  contain  a  greater  or  less  proportion  of 
silver,  which  it  is  often  found  worth  while  to  separate  from 
them.  This  process  is  at  present  effected  according  to  a 
most  ingenious  method,  founded  on  the  circumstance  first 
noticed  in  the  year  1829,  by  the  late  H.  L.  Pattinson,  of 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  that  when  lead  containing  silver  is 
melted  in  a  suitable  vessel,  afterwards  slowly  allowed  to  cool, 
and  at  the  same  time  kept  constantly  stirred  at  a  certain 
temperature  near  the  melting  point  of  lead,  crystals  begin 
to  form.  These,  as  rapidly  as  they  are  produced,  sink  to  the 
bottom,  and  on  being  removed  are  found  to  contain  much 
less  silver  than  the  lead  originally  melted.  The  still  fluid 
portion,  from  which  the  crystals  have  been  removed,  will  at 
the  same  time  be  proportionally  enriched.  By  repeated 
meltings  and  crystallisations  in  a  series  of  cast-iron  pots 
with  fire-places  beneath,  the  workman  is  thus  able  to  de- 
prive almost  entirely  of  its  silver  by  far  the  largest  portion  of 
the  lead  operated  upon,  while  the   remainder  becomes   an 


APPLICATION    OF   SCIENCE    TO   MINING.  369 

exceedingly  rich  alloy  of  both  metals,  so  as  to  contain  fifty 
times  its  original  proportion  of  silver.  This  rich  lead  is 
subsequently  exposed  in  a  refining  furnace  to  a  strong  blast 
of  air  at  a  high  temperature,  fresh  supplies  of  lead  being 
constantly  introduced  as  the  operation  proceeds.  By  this 
means  the  lead  becomes  rapidly  oxidized  and  converted  into 
litharge,  which  partly  runs  off  in  the  fluid  state,  and  is 
partly  (about  10  per  cent.)  lost  by  sublimation,  while  the 
silver  forms  a  cake  at  the  bottom  of  the  cupel.  The 
brightening  of  the  silver,  which  lustrously  shines  forth  at  the 
moment  of  the  separation  of  the  last  traces  of  lead,  indicates 
the  precise  period  at  which  the  operation  should  be  ended, 
and  the  blast  is  then  turned  off  and  the  fire  removed  from 
the  grate.  Before  the  introduction  of  Pattinson's  ingenious 
process,  the  separation  of  the  silver  from  the  lead  was 
attended  with  a  much  greater  loss  of  the  latter  metal,  as 
greater  quantities  had  to  be  cupelled  to  effect  the  same  result. 
The  economy  obtained  amounts  to  no  less  than  98  per  cent. ; 
for  where  formerly  100  cwt.  of  lead  were  lost  by  sublimation, 
the  same  quantity  of  silver  is  now  obtained  with  a  loss  of  no 
more  than  2  cwt.,  and  at  the  same  time  with  a  considerable 
saving  of  fuel. 

Ores  very  poor  in  silver,  as  for  instance  those  of  Alston 
Moor  or  Derbyshire,  which  formerly  could  not  be  profitably 
cupelled,  are  now  advantageously  treated  by  the  Pattinson 
process.  This  is  but  one  example  of  the  valuable  practical 
results  which  may  be  obtained  from  a  single  scientific  dis- 
covery. But  chemistry  has  introduced  thousands  of  similar 
technical  improvements  in  almost  all  branches  of  manufac- 
turing industry,  and  were  we  to  add  together  the  profits  thus 
obtained,  we  should  find  that  a  great  part  of  our  wealth  is 
due  to  the  laboratory. 


B  B 


370  THE   SUBTERRANEAN  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

MERCURY. 

Not  considered  as  a  true  Metal  by  the  Ancients — Its  Properties  and  Uses — 
Almadon— Formerly  worked  by  Convicts — Diseases  of  the  Miners — Idria — Its 
Discovery  —  Conflagration  of  the  Mine  —  Its  Produce — Huancavelica — New 
Almaden. 

AMONG  the  metals  known  to  antiquity  mercury  was  the 
last  discovered.  It  is  mentioned  neither  in  the  Bible 
nor  in  Homer,  who  accurately,  though  briefly,  describes  the 
characters  and  uses  of  all  the  other  ancient  metals ;  but  we 
learn  from  the  works  of  Aristotle  that  its  discovery  must  have 
preceded  the  times  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

From  its  always  remaining  fluid  in  the  temperate  climates 
of  the  earth,  it  was,  however,  not  considered  as  a  true  metal ; 
for  the  ancients  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  that  at  the  low 
temperature  of— 39°  Fahr.,  it  becomes  malleable  and  assumes 
the  solid  form.  The  Greeks  called  it  Hydrargyros  or  water- 
diver,  from  its  fluidity  and  argentine  colour ;  the  Romans, 
'  argentum  vivum,'  or  live  silver,  from  which  our  '  quick- 
silver' has  been  derived,  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  alche- 
mists gave  it  the  planetary  name  of  Mercury,  which  has 
been  generally  adopted  in  modern  scientific  language. 

At  a  very  early  age  cinnabar  (sulphide  of  mercury),  the 
beautiful  scarlet  ore  from  which  it  is  chiefly  obtained,  was 
employed  by  the  ancients  as  a  colouring  material  for  im- 
parting a  florid  complexion  to  triumphant  generals  or  to 
guests  at  the  festive  board.  The  extent  to  which  this  cos- 
metic was  used  may  be  inferred  from  the  facts  mentioned 
by  Pliny,  that  the  Greeks  imported  red  cinnabar  from 
Almaden  700  years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  that  Rome 
in  his  time  received  700,000  pounds  from  the  same  mines. 


USES   OF   MERCURY.  371 

As  the  alchemists  considered  quicksilver  as  the  fittest 
substance  for  transmutation  into  gold,  it  became  the  subject 
of  innumerable  experiments;  and  though  these  manipula- 
tions had  not  the  desired  effect,  they  accidentally  led 
to  the  discovery  of  several  of  its  combinations,  which  soon 
became  known  as  powerful  medicines.  But  it  was  reserved 
for  modern  times  to  appreciate  and  understand  the  full 
importance  of  mercury,  and  to  extend  the  field  of  its  utility 
to  a  variety  of  uses  unknown  to  former  ages. 

Alloyed  with  tin -foil,  it  forms  the  reflecting  surface  of 
looking-glasses;  and  by  its  ready  solution  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  subsequent  dissipation  by  a  moderate  heat,  it  becomes 
the  great  instrument  of  the  arts  of  gilding  and  silvering 
copper  and  brass.  The  same  property  makes  it  available  in 
extracting  these  precious  metals  from  their  ores.  To  science 
it  is  a  substance  of  paramount  value.  Its  great  density,  and 
its  regular  rate  of  extension  and  contraction  by  increase  and 
diminution  of  temperature,  give  it  the  preference  over  all 
liquids  for  filling  barometer  and  thermometer  tubes,  so  that 
without  mercury  we  should  know  but  little  indeed  about  the 
laws  of  caloric  and  of  atmospherical  pressure.  In  chemistry 
it  furnishes  the  only  means  of  collecting  and  manipulating,  in 
the  pneumatic  trough,  such  gaseous  bodies  as  are  condensible 
over  water.  To  its  aid,  in  this  respect,  the  modern  advance- 
ment of  chemical  discovery  is  pre-eminently  due,  and  without 
its  assistance  many  a  branch  of  industry  which  now  greatly 
adds  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation  could  never  have  existed. 

Mercury  does  not  rank  among  those  metals  which  are 
copiously  disseminated  over  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Con- 
siderable deposits  or  veins  of  even  its  commonest  and  most 
abundant  ores  (red  cinnabar ;  hepatic  cinnabar)  are  confined 
to  a  few  spots,  and  all  Europe  possesses  but  two  important 
quicksilver  mines — at  Almaden  in  Spain,  and  Idria  in  Carniola. 

The  Sierra  Morena  or  the  Black  Mountains  in  the  Iberian 
Peninsula,  so  well  known  as  the  scene  of  the  exploits  of  Don 
Quixote,  are  no  less  renowned  in  the  mining  world  for  their 
subterranean  riches,  among  which  the  famous  quicksilver 
mines  of  Almaden  del  Azogue  hold  a  conspicuous  rank. 
This  small  town  of  about  10,000  inhabitants  is  situated  on 
the  northern  border  of  the  above-mentioned  mountain  chain, 

13   B    2 


372  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

at  the  south-western  extremity  of  the  province  of  New 
Castile,  and,  unlike  most  other  Spanish  cities,  affords  the 
pleasing  sight  of  well-built  houses  and  clean  and  regular 
streets.  As  is  generally  the  case  in  mining  districts,  the 
neighbourhood  is  sterile,  but  picturesque,  and  from  the  neigh- 
bouring mountains  magnificent  prospects  open  on  every 
side. 

The  mines  of  Almaden,  after  having  been  the  property  of 
the  religious  knights  of  Calatrava,  who  had  assisted  in  ex- 
pelling the  Moors,  were  farmed  off  to  the  Fuggers,  the 
celebrated  merchant  princes  of  Augsburg,  whose  descendants 
still  rank  among  the  high  aristocracy  of  Germany.  After- 
wards, from  the  date  of  1645  till  the  present  time,  they  have 
either  been  worked  on  Government  account  or  farmed  off  to 
private  companies.  A  visit  to  these  celebrated  mines  is 
highly  interesting.  A  spacious  tunnel  or  gallery,  completely 
walled  with  solid  masonry,  leads  into  the  bosom  of  the 
mountain  and  branches  out  at  its  extremity  into  several 
galleries  hewn  in  the  slate  which  forms  the  matrix  of  the 
vein.  One  of  these  galleries  conducts  to  the  Boveda  de 
Santa  Clara,  a  vast  circular  hall  in  which  formerly  stood  a 
horse-gin,  for  raising  the  ore  to  the  surface.  At  present, 
however,  this  work  is  performed  through  a  shaft  which 
descends  to  the  lowest  level  of  the  mine.  From  another 
gallery  convenient  stairs  lead  down  to  the  first  working  level 
of  the  mine,  and  thence  short  ladders  to  the  deeper  stories. 
The  shafts  are  wide,  the  galleries  high  enough  to  allow  one 
to  walk  upright  through  them.  The  upper  stories  are  almost 
thoroughly  dry,  the  lower  ones  humid  ;  the  water,  however, 
is  easily  removed  by  hand-pumps,  which  raise  it  from  story 
to  story  into  a  large  subterranean  reservoir,  emptied  once  a 
week  by  a  steam-engine  of  fifty-four  horse-power.  The  veins 
are  so  extremely  rich  that,  though  they  have  been  worked 
pretty  constantly  during  so  many  centuries,  the  mines  have 
hardly  reached  the  depth  of  1,140  feet.  The  lode  actually 
under  exploration  is  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  yards  thick, 
and  it  becomes  thicker  still  at  the  crossing  of  the  veins.  Its 
present  annual  produce  amounts  to  about  80,000  cwt. 
of  pure  mercury.  The  ore  presents  a  beautiful  sight  in  the 
galleries  where  it  is  worked,   on   account  of  the  dark  red 


THE   MINES   OF   ALMADEN.  373 

glittering  colour  of  the  cinnabar,  which  is  sometimes  earthy 
and  sometimes  forms  compact  crystalline  masses,  or  fine 
crystals  mixed  with  calcareous  spar.  Often  when  a  hewer 
detaches  a  block  of  ore  with  his  pickaxe,  quicksilver  masses  of 
the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg  roll  from  a  crevice  in  which  they  were 
lodged,  and,  leaping  along  the  floor,  divide  into  thousands 
of  small  drops.  This,  however,  is  no  loss,  for  all  the  rubbish 
which  accumulates  in  the  galleries  is  carefully  collected. 

The  ores  are  treated  in  thirteen  double  distillatory  furnaces, 
called  alodels,  and  yield  only  ten  per  cent,  upon  an  average. 
But  the  analysis  of  the  ores  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  barbarous 
apparatus  employed  in  its  sublimation  causes  a  loss  of  nearly 
one-half  of  the  quicksilver,  which  is  dispersed  in  the  air,  to 
the  great  injury  of  the  workmen's  health.  This  apparatus 
has  remained  without  any  material  change  for  the  better 
since  the  days  of  the  Moorish  dominion  in  Spain.  The 
furnaces  are  heated  with  brushwood,  particularly  with  the 
resinous  branches  of  the  Gistus  ladaniferus,  which  grows  over 
the  greatest  part  of  the  surrounding  mountains.  This  dark 
evergreen  shrub  often  extends  over  many  miles  of  ground, 
and  when  in  flower  covers  the  hills  with  a  beautiful  snow- 
white  carpet. 

Formerly  only  criminals  condemned  to  hard  labour  for  life 
were  employed  to  work  in  the  mines  of  Almaden.  At  sunrise 
they  were  conducted  from  a  prison,  which  still  exists,  through 
a  subterranean  passage  into  the  mines,  where  they  were 
obliged  to  toil  till  evening,  when  they  were  led  back  again 
to  their  dungeons,  so  that  they  never  saw  the  light  of  day. 
After  a  few  years  these  poor  wretches  generally  died  from 
inhaling  the  poisonous  vapours  of  the  mercury.  Reduced  to 
despair,  they  set  fire,  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  to 
the  galleries,  which  were  then  constructed  of  wood,  and 
thus  rendered  the  mining  operations  impossible  for  many 
years.  Since  then  only  free  miners  are  employed,  who  are 
well  paid,  and  not  allowed  to  work  longer  than  six  hours  a 
day.  Most  of  them,  however,  die  at  an  early  age,  between 
thirty  and  forty,  and  those  who  live  longer  are  affected  by  a 
spasmodic  trembling,  so  as  to  be  unable  to  keep  a  limb 
quiet. 

After  the  mines  of  Almaden  those  of  Idria  in  Carniola  are 


374  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

the  richest  in  Europe.  This  neat  little  town  lies  in  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  picturesqe  basins  of  the  Julian  Alps. 
The  gigantic  and  naked  rock  walls  which  inclose  the  seques- 
tered valley  are  only  partially  decked  along  their  summits 
with  clumps  of  firs ;  but  lower  down  the  slopes  are  covered 
with  beautiful  meadows  and  forests,  and  here  and  there  on 
the  projecting  spurs  of  the  mountains  stand  picturesque 
chapels,  which  serve  to  heighten  the  beauties  of  the  mag- 
nificent panorama. 

Chance — to  which  man  owes  so  much  both  of  good  and  evil 
— also  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  subterranean  treasures  of 
Idria.  In  the  year  1497  a  peasant  found,  in  a  tub  which  he 
had  placed  under  a  brook,  some  drops  of  a  heavy  liquid 
shining  like  silver.  Although  quite  ignorant  of  the  value  of 
his  discovery,  he  still  was  cunning  enough  to  carry  them  to 
a  goldsmith  without  mentioning  the  place  where  he  had 
found  them.  At  length  a  man  named  Anderlein,  having 
promised  him  a  handsome  reward,  became  master  of  the  secret, 
and  associating  himself  with  several  wealthy  persons,  began 
to  work  the  mine.  After  several  years  the  property  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  company  of  goldsmiths  of  Salzburg  and 
Augsburg,  which  derived  such  profits  from  the  mine  as  to 
excite  the  greed  of  the  neighbouring  Venetians,  who  in  the 
year  1510  forcibly  drove  away  the  Germans,  but  were  soon 
after  expelled  by  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  who,  as  soon  as  he 
heard  of  this  insolent  attack,  sent  some  troops  into  the 
forest  of  Idria  and  restored  it  to  its  rightful  owners.  In  1578 
the  mine  was  incorporated  among  the  domains  of  the  State, 
and  began  to  be  worked  with  greater  regularity. 

The  entrance  lies  to  the  south  of  the  town,  on  the  slope  of 
a  small  hill  projecting  from  the  circular  zone  of  mountains 
which  gird  the  basin.  The  visitor  may  either  descend,  in  less 
than  five  minutes,  to  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  through  a  perpen- 
dicular shaft,  in  one  of  the  large  tubs  which  serve  to  raise 
the  ore,  or  he  may  make  use  of  convenient  stairs.  Here  and 
there  are  landing-places,  whence  galleries  lead  to  the  various 
fields  or  stories  of  the  mine,  the  lowest  of  which  is  145  fathoms 
under  ground.  The  vein,  however,  descends  much  further,  to 
an  unknown  depth,  and  its  horizontal  extent  has  likewise  not 
yet  been  measured. 


QUICKSILVER   MINES   OF    1DRIA.  375 

As  the  limestone  in  which  the  ores  are  imbedded  does 
not  form  a  solid  compact  mass,  but  is  of  a  loose  nature,  most 
of  the  galleries  had,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  mining 
operations,  to  be  artificially  propped.  Until  the  end  of  the 
last  century  wooden  beams  were  chiefly  used  for  this  purpose 
— a  construction  which  frequently  gave  rise  to  fearful  fires. 
Thus  on  March  16,  1803,  the  workmen  saw  a  thick  smoke 
issuing  from  several  of  the  deepest  galleries.  It  rose  higher 
and  higher,  and  spread  through  the  upper  galleries  of  the 
mine.  No  fire  was  to  be  seen,  no  sound  of  flames  was  to  be 
heard,  yet  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  mine  was  burn- 
ing. Some  of  the  workmen  boldly  undertook  to  descend  to 
the  scene  of  the  fire,  but  in  vain  ;  they  were  obliged  to  flee 
before  their  enemy,  for  the  smoke  was  not  only  dense  and  suffo- 
cating, but  so  impregnated  with  poisonous  vapours  that  no 
living  being  could  exist  within  its  reach.  An  attempt  was 
now  made  to  smother  the  fire  by  shutting  out  the  air.  All  the 
galleries  were  blocked  as  near  as  possible  to  the  supposed  seat 
of  the  fire,  as  well  as  the  two  shafts  which  led  to  the  upper 
world.  The  mine  remained  thus  closed  during  five  weeks, 
but  to  no  purpose ;  for  when  it  was  reopened,  the  fire  burst 
forth  more  furiously  than  before.  The  flames  now  howled 
fearfully  from  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  and  the  mercurial  and 
sulphurous  fumes  which  rose  from  it  threatened  instant 
death  to  anyone  who  should  be  rash  enough  to  approach 
them.  The  director  of  the  mine  now  resolved  to  flood  the 
works  as  a  last  resource  against  the  ravages  of  fire.  A  river 
was  turned  into  the  perpendicular  shaft,  and  ran  during  two 
days  and  three  nights  into  the  pit.  On  the  first  day  there 
was  no  perceptible  effect,  but  on  the  second —  whether  it  were 
that  the  vapours  produced  by  the  meeting  of  the  antagonistic 
elements  were  striving  for  an  outlet,  or  that  new  inflammable 
gases  had  been  formed — a  most  terrific  explosion  took  place, 
which  made  the  whole  mountain  tremble  as  if  shaken  by  an 
earthquake.  The  huts  close  to  the  opening  of  the  shaft  were 
rent  to  pieces,  the  stone  houses  at  the  foot  or  on  the  slopes  of 
the  hill  fell  in  with  a  tremendous  crash,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Idria,  fancying  the  day  of  judgment  had  arrived,  fled  in 
terror  to  the  hills. 

In  the  mine  itself  the  explosion  was  afterwards  found  to 


376  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

have  torn  up  the  galleries,  to  have  burst  the  vaulted  roofs, 
and  to  have  hurled  away  the  stairs.  But  the  victory  was 
now  won.  The  vapour  gradually  drew  off,  and  after  a  few 
weeks  it  was  possible  once  more  to  descend  into  the  pit. 
Two  full  years,  however,  passed  before  the  water  was  fully 
pumped  out  into  the  Tdriza,  where  it  poisoned  all  the  fishes, 
with  the  exception  of  the  eels,  who,  it  seems,  are  proof 
against  everything  except  roasting  or  boiling.  Even  after 
all  the  water  had  been  removed,  it  was  still  found  impossible 
to  work  in  the  mines,  partly  from  the  heat,  but  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  venomous  fumes,  which  soon  produced  all  the 
symptoms  of  mercurial  disease. 

In  order  to  stimulate  almost  superhuman  exertions,  an 
exorbitant  salary  was  offered  to  all  those  who  should  venture 
to  explore  the  most  dangerous  passages,  and  gather  the 
quicksilver,  which  in  some  places  had  collected  in  considerable 
masses.  But  many  paid  for  their  greed  with  their  lives,  and 
for  many  months  afterwards  the  air  remained  so  noxious 
that  the  ordinary  mining  works  could  not  possibly  be  carried 
on.  To  prevent  similar  accidents  for  the  future,  and  also  on 
account  of  the  increasing  scarcity  of  wood,  the  galleries  have 
since  then  been  walled  with  stone ;  but  when  we  consider 
that  the  whole  length  of  the  subterranean  passages  amounts 
to  no  less  than  fifty  miles,  we  cannot  wonder  that  many  of 
them  are  still  propped  with  wood,  and  that  as  recently  as 
1846  fire  raged  in  the  mine,  which  was  again  quenched  by 
putting  part  of  it  under  water. 

The  stone  galleries  are  vaulted,  and  of  a  masterly  con- 
struction, seven  feet  high  and  six  feet  broad.  The  cost  is 
less  than  one  would  suppose,  as  the  progress  of  the  mining 
operations  furnishes  the  necessary  materials. 

The  temperature  in  many  galleries  is  equal  to  that  of  a 
conservatory ;  and  if  a  floral  hall,  bathed  in  light  and  filled 
with  delicious  odours,  is  felt  to  be  disagreeably  hot,  the 
warmth  of  the  air  is  naturally  far  more  intolerable  in  dismal 
excavations,  where  the  workman  pursues  his  laborious  task 
by  the  weak  glimmering  of  a  lamp,  and  in  an  atmosphere 
full  of  deadly  vapours. 

Here,  as  in  Almaden,  a  premature  old  age  is  the  lot  of 
the   unhappy  miners,  who   while   young   tremble   like   old 


ATMOSPHERE    OF   QUICKSILVER   MINES.  377 

men.  Yet  some  attain  a  tolerably  good  old  age,  and  he  who 
reaches  his  forty-fifth  year  with  trembling  limbs  is  said  to 
get  accustomed  to  the  effects  of  the  poison,  and  may  then 
live,  or  rather  vegetate,  till  sixty  or  seventy. 

Scarcely  any  animals  live  in  the  mines  of  Idria.  Even 
spiders  cannot  long  resist  the  noxious  atmosphere.  Rats, 
however,  formerly  existed  there  in  considerable  numbers,  but 
have  almost  entirely  disappeared  since  the  last  fire,  which 
proved  too  much  even  for  them.  In  some  parts  of  the  mine 
the  mercury  is  inclosed  in  the  clay-slate  in  extremely  fine 
globules,  so  as  scarcely  to  be  visible  to  the  naked  eye;  but 
on  removing  the  ore  many  of  them  fall  out  and  collect  on 
the  floor,  in  larger  drops  or  small  pools,  which  are  carefully 
gathered  in  leather  pouches  or  bags.  By  far  the  greatest  part 
of  the  mercury  of  Idria,  however,  is  combined  with  sulphur, 
and  is  obtained  by  distilling  the  ore  in  vast  furnaces. 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  the  carriage  of  a  liquid  body 
of  the  weight  of  mercury  requires  the  greatest  care.  The  old 
mode  of  packing,  still  partly  in  use,  is  in  sheep-skins,  which 
can  acquire  the  necessary  firmness  only  by  being  tanned  with 
alum,  and  are  attentively  examined  before  being  used.  After 
having  been  filled,  the  sack  is  first  tried  on  a  wooden  table, 
and,  having  successfully  stood  the  ordeal  of  severe  pressing 
and  punching,  is  enclosed  in  a  second  skin.  Two  of  these 
packages,  each  containing  forty-one  pounds  and  a  few  ounces, 
are  then  placed  in  a  small  cask,  and  three  of  these  in  a 
square  box.  But  as,  in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  the 
sacks  will  sometimes  burst,  the  mercury  is  now  frequently 
transported  in  large  iron  bottles,  the  stoppers  of  which  are 
firmly  screwed  down  by  means  of  a  machine  invented  for 
the  purpose.  All  the  quicksilver  packed  up  in  this  manner 
is  sent  to  Trieste,  and  thence  chiefly  to  England,  while  that 
which  is  destined  for  Vienna  and  Germany  is  exported  in 
sacks. 

In  the  years  185G,  1857,  and  1858,  4,570,  7,178,  and  4,331 
hundredweight  of  mercury  were  produced  in  Idria,  and  sold 
at  an  average  price  of  one  hundred  florins.  In  1850  mercury 
was  worth  two  hundred  and  fifty  florins  the  hundredweight, 
and  thus  we  see  how  detrimental  the  competition  of  California 
has  been  to  the  Austrian   treasury,  which,  in   its  chronic 


378  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

state  of  atrophy,  is  little  able  to  bear  any  diminution  of 
revenue. 

A  great  part  of  the  produce  of  the  mines — about  1,000 
hundredweight — is  manufactured  into  cinnabar  in  Idria, 
■which  supplies  almost  all  Europe  with  this  splendid  red 
colouring  matter.  All  the  other  European  quicksilver  veins, 
in  Tyrol,  Bohemia,  Hungary,  and  the  Bavarian  Palatinate,  are 
utterly  insignificant  when  compared  with  Almaden  and  Idria, 
as  none  of  them  produce  more  than  a  few  hundredweight. 

But  even  Almaden  and  Idria  have  lost  much  of  their 
former  importance  since  the  discovery  of  the  rich  mines  of 
New  Almaden  in  California,  which  in  1865  yielded  4,000 
hundredweight  of  mercury.  As  the  uses  of  mercury  are  few, 
the  falling  off  in  price  has  been  the  consequence.  But 
the  greater  cheapness  of  mercury  has  had  a  most  favour^ 
able  influence  on  the  production  of  silver  in  Mexico,  Peru, 
Bolivia,  &c,  as  many  of  the  poorer  ores  can  now  be  profitably 
worked;  and  thus  California,  which  by  its  gold  placers  threat- 
ened to  disturb  the  relative  value  of  the  two  precious  metals, 
has,  by  promoting  at  the  same  time  the  production  of  silver, 
largely  helped  to  maintain  the  former  equilibrium  and  to 
relieve  the  fears  of  many  political  economists. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that,  while  Europe  has  for 
the  last  three  centuries  received  almost  all  its  silver  from 
America,  Mexico  and  Peru  were  all  the  time  dependent  upon 
the  old  world  for  the  mercury  without  which  Potosi  and 
Guanaxuato  would  have  been  comparatively  unproductive. 
Quicksilver,  it  is  true,  had  been  found  here  and  there,  but  the 
only  mine  of  importance  was  that  of  Huancavelica  in  Peru, 
the  discovery  of  which  in  the  year  1567  is  attributed  to  the 
Indian  Gonzalo  Navincopa,  though,  according  to  Humboldt,  it 
was  already  known  to  the  Incas,  who  made  use  of  cinnabar  to 
paint  their  cheeks,  as  Roman  senators  and  Athenian  archons 
had  done  before  them.  Here,  at  a  height  surpassing  that  of 
the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  by  1,500  feet,  from  4,000  to  6,000  cwt. 
of  quicksilver  were  annually  obtained,  until  the  folly  of  a 
director  ruined  the  chief  mine.  Ever  since  1 780  Huancave- 
lica had  with  difficulty  supplied  the  growing  wants  of  the 
Peruvian  silver  mines,  for  at  a  greater  depth  the  ore  was 
found  to  be  mixed  with  sulphuret  of  arsenic,  which  greatly 


MINE    OP    HUANCAVELICA.  379 

deteriorated  its  quality.  As  the  lode  forms  an  enormous  mass, 
strong  pillars  had  been  left  standing  to  support  the  roof,  and 
these  props  the  above-mentioned  director  had  the  improvident 
temerity  to  remove,  in  order  to  increase  the  produce  of  the 
mine.  What  anyone  with  a  little  experience  or  common-sense 
might  have  foreseen,  took  place.  The  rock,  deprived  of  its 
supports,  gave  way,  the  roof  fell  in  with  a  tremendous  crash, 
and  the  mine  was  ruined — a  memorable  warning  against  the 
greed  which,  snapping  at  a  shadow,  loses  the  substance. 


380  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE      NEW     METALS. 

Zinc — The  Ores,  but  not  the  Metal,  known  to  the  Ancients — Rapid  Increase  of  its 
Production — Chief  Zi nc-producing  Countri es — Plati num — An timony — Bi smuth 
— Cobalt  and  Nickel — Wolfram — Arsenic — Chrome — Manganese — Cadmium — 
Titanium — Molybdenum — Aluminium — Aluminium  Bronze — Magnesium — So- 
dium— Palladium — Rhodium — Thallium. 

THE  metals  known  to  the  ancients  were  either  such  as 
occur  in  a  native  state  and  whose  lustre  must  attract 
even  the  attention  of  the  savage,  or  such  as  are  easily  ex- 
tracted from  their  ores  by  the  simple  agency  of  fire  and 
carbon,  and  consequently  require  no  complicated  metallurgic 
treatment.  Their  number  is  limited  to  the  seven  substances 
described  in  the  preceding  chapters ;  but  the  art  of  the  modern 
chemist  has  greatly  extended  our  knowledge  of  metals,  and 
revealed  to  us  the  existence  of  no  less  that  fifty-six  of  these 
elementary  bodies. 

Some  have  been  found  to  lurk  under  the  obscure  disguise 
of  alkaline  and  earthy  matters,  such  as  clay  and  chalk,  mag- 
nesia and  sand,  soda  and  potash;  others  have  been  discovered 
in  the  water  of  mineral  springs,  or  under  the  brilliant  mask 
of  precious  stones.  Most  of  these  were  unknown  before  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  nor  can  there  be  a  doubt 
that  future  researches  will  make  us  acquainted  with  many 
metals  whose  existence  is  still  a  secret  to  mankind. 

Most  of  these  new  metals  are  as  yet  mere  objects  of 
curiosity,  either  from  their  rarity  or  the  great  difficulty  and 
cost  of  their  production ;  but  some  of  them  are  already  of  con- 
siderable use,  and  within  the  last  fifty  years  zinc  has  obtained 
a  rank  among  the  most  important  products  of  the  mineral 
world.  Calamine,  the  chief  ore  which  provides  us  with  this 
metal,  was  indeed  known  to  the  ancients,  who  by  smelting  it 


PKODUCTION    OF   ZINC.  381 

with  copper  ores  obtained  an  alloy  similar  to  our  brass ;  * 
but  the  metal  itself  seems  to  have  been  first  discovered  by 
the  famous  alchemist  Bombastus  Paracelsus,  who  nourished 
towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Zinc,  however, 
remained  unnoticed  as  a  useful  metal  until  the  year  1805, 
when  Hobson  and  Sylvester's  discovery  that  it  is  malleable 
at  a  temperature  of  300°  F.,  and  can  then  be  worked  to 
any  shape  with  great  facility,  caused  it  to  replace  lead  for 
many  purposes,  in  which  its  hardness  and  other  valuable 
qualities  render  it  superior.  As  it  is  very  easily  extended 
into  thin  sheets,  and  combines  the  advantages  of  lightness, 
salubrity,  and  durability,  it  is  frequently  used  for  the  roofing 
of  houses  and  for  the  sheathing  of  ships.  Many  of  our 
domestic  utensils,  particularly  those  which  serve  for  the 
holding  of  liquids,  are  now  made  of  zinc.  Large  quantities 
are  moulded  into  architectural  ornaments ;  and  the  splendid 
white  colour  of  the  oxide  of  zinc  has  made  it  a  triumphant 
rival  of  ceruse,  or  white-lead.  To  provide  for  so  many  uses, 
the  production  of  zinc  has  in  a  short  time  made  strides 
without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  metals.  While  before 
1808  from  150  to  200  tons  sufficed  for  the  annual  consump- 
tion of  Europe,  more  than  110,000  tons  are  now  required,  so 
that  in  little  more  than  half  a  century  the  demand  has  in- 
creased more  than  five  hundred  times,  and  a  metal  pre- 
viously almost  unnoticed  is  now  produced  in  masses  worth 
several  millions  of  pounds. 

The  chief  zinc-producing  countries  of  Europe  are  Prussia 
and  Belgium.  The  Prussian  mines,  which  in  1866  yielded 
1,204,419  hundredweight,  or  about  60,000  tons,  are  situated 
in  Silesia,  Westphalia,  and  the  Rhenish  provinces.  In  the 
same  year  Belgium  produced  35,500  tons,  chiefly  from  the 
mines  of  the  Vieille  Montagne,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where 
calamine  occurs  in  a  large  mass,  imbedded  in  chalk,  and  is 
worked  like  an  open  quarry. 

In  England  calamine  is,  next  to  galena,  the  most  important 
ore  obtained  from  the  Derbyshire  mines,  and  of  late  years 
large  quantities  of  blende  or  sulphuret  of  zinc — an  ore  which, 

*  A  coin  of  Nero,  analysed  by  Arthur  Phillips,  was  found  to  consist  of  81*07 
per  cent,  copper,  1-0G  tin,  and  1773  zinc;  another,  of  Hadrian,  of  8578  copper, 
1-19  tin,  1-81  lead,  6-43  zinc,  and  074  iron. 


382  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

on  account  of  the  special  difficulties  offered  by  its  treatment, 
had  hitherto  been  neglected — are  likewise  furnished  by  the 
Isle  of  Man,  Denbighshire,  Flintshire,  and  Cornwall. 

In  1864  our  entire  production  of  zinc  amounted  to  no 
more  than  4,040  tons ;  but  since  that  period  it  has  been 
considerably  increased  by  the  importation  of  immense 
quantities  of  Sardinian,  Swedish,  and  Spanish  ores,  which 
are  for  the  most  part  reduced  in  the  works  of  Messrs.  Yivian, 
at  Swansea. 

For  many  years  the  United  States  depended  upon  Europe 
for  their  whole  supply  of  zinc ;  but  as  nature  seems  to  have 
denied  none  of  her  mineral  riches  to  the  great  republic,  the 
discovery  of  immense  deposits  of  calamine  and  blende  in  the 
state  of  Tennessee  has  enabled  them  to  compete  successfully 
with  foreign  produce,  and  the  works  of  Leehigh  and  Lasalle 
now  furnish  a  large  proportion  of  the  zinc  consumed  in  the 
country. 

Platinum,  the  heaviest  body  in  nature,  was  first  discovered 
by  the  Spaniards,  in  the  gold  mines  of  Darien,  probably  in 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  *  but  as  it  remained 
infusible  in  the  strongest  heat,  and  no  method  was  known 
for  purifying  its  ore,  in  which  it  is  remarkably  combined  with 
six  or  even  seven  other  metals,  it  continued  for  a  long  time 
to  be  a  mere  object  of  curiosity.  In  1772  Count  Sickingen 
discovered  that  it  can  be  welded  like  iron  when  urged  to  a 
white  heat,  and  first  succeeded  in  producing  platinum  wire 
and  platinum  leaves.  A  few  years  after  the  celebrated 
Swedish  chemist,  Bergmann,  isolated  it  from  the  metallic 
substances  associated  with  its  ore,  and  proved  it  to  be  a 
peculiar  metal. 

Platinum  is  found  in  almost  all  the  auriferous  districts  of 
the  globe,  but  generally  in  such  small  quantities  as  not  to  be 
worth  the  collecting.  Kuschwa  Goroblagodat  and  Nishne- 
Tagilsk,  in  the  Ural,  furnish  annually  about  eight  hundred 
hundredweight,  which  is  nearly  ten  times  the  amount  from 
Brazil,  Columbia,  St.  Domingo,  and  Borneo.  But,  in  spite 
of  this  scanty  production,  its  discovery  must  be  considered  as 
one  of  the  most  important  conquests  which  science  has  made 
in  the  material  world,  as  its  perfect  infusibility,  its  hardness, 

*  Kopp,  •  Geschichte  der  Chemie,'  vol.  iv.  p.  221. 


PLATINUM    AND   ANTIMONY.  3*3 

its  unalterability  by  air  and  water,  and  its  property  of  with- 
standing the  action  of  the  most  corrosive  simple  acids, 
render  it  an  invaluable  material  for  the  fabrication  of  various 
chemical  vessels,  without  whose  assistance  many  important 
discoveries  could  not  possibly  have  been  made.  To  the 
manufacturers  of  sulphuric  acid  large  retorts  of  platinum  are 
indispensable  for  concentrating  this  highly  corrosive  fluid, 
which  devours  every  other  metallic  vase  with  which  it  comes 
in  contact.  The  price  of  platinum  is  intermediate  between 
that  of  gold  and  silver. 

The  ores  of  Antimony  played  a  great  part  in  the  labours  of 
the  alchemists,  but  the  metal  is  first  mentioned  in  the  works 
of  Basilius  Valentinus,  who  flourished  during  the  second 
half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  used  chiefly  in  several 
important  alloys.  Combined  with  lead  it  constitutes  type- 
metal,  and  united  with  lead  and  tin  it  is  employed  for  making 
Britannia  metal,  and  the  plates  on  which  music  is  engraved. 
Nearly  all  the  antimony  of  commerce  is  furnished  by  the  grey 
sulphuret  (stibnite),  which  occurs  in  Hungary,  Saxony, 
South  America,  and  Australia.  Though  Cornwall  produces 
a  considerable  quantity  of  antimonial  ore,  our  chief  supply 
is  derived  from  Singapore,  the  emporium  of  the  various  mines 
of  Borneo  and  other  parts  of  the  Malayan  Archipelago. 

The  grey  antimony  ore  was  employed  by  the  ancients  for 
colouring  the  hair  and  the  eyebrows,  and  for  staining  the 
upper  and  under  edges  of  the  eyelids — a  practice  still  in 
use  among  Oriental  nations  for  the  purpose  of  increasing 
the  apparent  size  of  the  eye.  According  to  Dioscorides,  it 
was  prepared  for  this  purpose  by  inclosing  it  in  a  lump  of 
dough,  and  then  burning  it  in  the  coals  till  it  was  reduced 
to  a  cinder.  It  was  then  extinguished  with  milk  and  wine, 
and  again  placed  upon  coals  and  blown  until  it  was  ignited, 
after  which  the  heat  was  discontinued,  lest,  as  Pliny  says, 
'  plumbum  fiat  '■ — it  become  lead.  It  hence  appears  that  the 
metal  antimony  was  occasionally  seen  by  the  ancients,  though 
not  distinguished  from  lead. 

Bismuth,  a  metal  of  a  dull  silver-white  colour,  inclining 
to  red,  is  first  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  the  alchemists  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  almost  exclusively  furnished  by  the 
mines  of  Schneeberg  in  Saxony,  where  it  is  generally  found 


384  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

in  a  native  state.  On  account  of  its  great  fusibility  and 
brittleness  it  is  seldom  used  alone ;  but  associated  with 
other  metals  it  forms  several  valuable  alloys. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Saxon  and  Bohemian  miners  be- 
lieved all  those  ores  from  which,  in  spite  of  their  promising 
appearance,  they  were  unable  to  extract  a  useful  metal,  to  be 
a  work  of  the  gnomes  mocking  the  industry  of  man.  Some 
of  these  ores  they  called  Kobold — an  opprobrious  name  given 
to  these  evil  subterranean  spirits,  who  were  supposed  to  be  of 
dwarfish  stature  and  intense  ugliness  ;  others  Nickel — a 
name  probably  of  the  same  meaning  as  our  old  Nick.  The 
progress  of  metallurgic  industry  has  fully  exculpated  the 
gnomes  of  all  evil  intentions,  for  the  last  century  succeeded 
in  extracting  the  metals  Cobalt  and  Mckel  from  those  rebel- 
lious ores.  Cobalt,  though  as  yet  but  rarely  employed,  gives 
promise  of  some  future  importance,  as  it  appears  to  be 
extremely  tenacious.  A  wire  made  of  pure  cobalt  will 
carry  nearly  double  the  weight  that  an  iron  wire  of  the  same 
thickness  will  do. 

The  cobalt  ores,  which  impart  a  magnificent  blue  colour  to 
glass,  have  lost  much  of  their  importance  as  pigments  since 
the  discovery  of  artificial  ultramarine,  while  the  nickel  ores 
which  usually  accompany  them,  and  were  formerly  thrown 
away  as  rubbish,  have  become  valuable,  since  the  metal 
which  they  contain  has  found  some  important  uses.  The 
small  coin  of  Belgium  and  Switzerland  is  now  made  of  nickel 
instead  of  copper,  and  large  quantities  are  employed  in  the 
fabrication  of  German  silver,  or  Argentine  plate,  an  alloy  of 
copper,  nickel,  and  zinc,  which,  from  its  hardness  and  brilliant 
white  colour,  furnishes  an  excellent  material  for  tablespoons 
and  forks.  Both  the  nickel  and  cobalt  ores  are  produced 
chiefly  by  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Germany ;  our  own  mines 
furnish  but  insignificant  quantities.  In  the  United  States 
the  Camden  works  (New  Jersey)  now  produce  nickel  at  the 
rate  of  150,000  pounds  a  year. 

Tungsten,  a  metal  discovered  in  1783  by  two  Spanish 
chemists,  the  brothers  Juan  and  Fausto  d'Elhujar,  in  a  black 
mineral  called  wolfram,  which  frequently  occurs  along  with 
tin  ores  in  Cornwall  (where  it  is  known  under  the  names  of 
cal,  or  callen,  and  gossan),  Saxony,  Austria,  &c,  is  in  its 


ARSENIC    AND    CHROME.  385 

isolated  state  a  mere  object  of  scientific  curiosity,  but  when 
melted  with  cast  steel  or  even  with  iron  only,  in  the  propor- 
tion of  from  two  to  five  per  cent.,  it  produces  a  steel  which  is 
very  hard  and  fine-grained,  and  for  tenacity  and  density  is 
superior  to  any  other  steel  made.  Hence  wolfram-steel, 
which  is  now  coming  extensively  into  use  in  Germany,  makes 
the  best  knives  and  razors  ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  rarity  and 
high  price  of  wolfram  confine  its  production  within  narrow 
limits.  Several  of  the  tungstates,  or  salts  of  tungsten,  are  used 
as  pigments  ;  and  the  tungstate  of  soda  has  the  highly 
valuable  property  of  rendering  fabrics  uninflammable,  and 
thus  furnishes  a  means  for  preventing  the  accidents  which 
constantly  occur  from  the  burning  of  ladies'  dresses. 

Albert  the  Great,  a  famous  alchemist  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  discoverer  of  Arsenic, 
a  tin- white  metal,  which,  however,  soon  loses  its  brilliancy 
when  exposed  to  the  air,  and  turns  black.  From  its  poisonous 
qualities  it  is  only  used  in  some  unimportant  alloys  which 
serve  for  the  manufacture  of  insignificant  articles,  such  as 
buttons  or  buckles.  Some  of  its  ores  and  combinations,  which, 
from  their  lively  yellow,  green,  and  red  colour,  would  other- 
wise have  been  valuable  pigments,  are  likewise  for  the  same 
reason  seldom  used.  A  great  number  of  copper,  nickel,  lead, 
cobalt,  zinc,  and  iron  ores  contain  some  arsenic ;  but  this 
dangerous  substance  is  obtained  chiefly  from  the  common 
arsenical  pyrites  (Mispickel — sulphuret  of  iron  and  arsenic), 
which  occurs  in  Cornwall  and  Devonshire.  The  whole  supply 
of  arsenical  ores  amounted  in  1866  to  about  2,610  tons,  of 
which  England  and  Prussia  furnished  the  greater  part. 

The  metal  Uranium,  discovered  in  1789  by  the  celebrated 
Klaproth,  in  a  black  heavy  mineral,  called  Pechblende 
(pitch-blende),  occurring  in  the  mines  of  the  Erzgebirge,  is 
not  used  as  such,  but  is  very  valuable  in  porcelain-painting, 
as  it  affords  a  beautiful  orange  colour  in  the  enamelling  fire, 
and  a  black  colour  in  that  in  which  the  porcelain  is  baked. 
A  laboratory  has  been  opened  at  Joachimsthal,  where  the 
ore  is  converted  into  uranate  of  soda  for  this  purpose. 

Chrome,  like  cobalt,  is  used  chiefly  as  a  pigment.  Several 
of  its  salts  are  splendid  yellow  colouring  matters,  and  its 
oxide  imparts  the  finest  green  tints  to  porcelain.     The  metal 

o  c 


386  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

itself,  which  was  discovered  by  Vauquelin  in  1797,  is,  as 
yet,  an  object  of  interest  only  to  the  chemist,  but  may  one 
day  become  important,  as  in  its  pure  state  it  is  very  hard, 
unalterable  by  air  and  water,  and  even  less  fusible  than 
platina.  Most  of  its  ores  belong  to  the  rarer  minerals,  and 
but  one,  chrome-iron,  occurs  in  sufficient  abundance  for  in- 
dustrial purposes.  It  is  found  in  Hungary,  in  Norway  (which 
annually  exports  about  16,000  tons  to  Hamburg  and  Holland), 
in  Siberia,  and  in  large  quantities  in  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania. The  ore  employed  in  England  is  obtained  mostly 
from  Baltimore,  Drontheim,  and  the  Shetland  Isles,  and 
amounts  to  about  2,000  tons  annually. 

Manganese  is  likewise  a  metal  which  has  not  yet  left  the 
domain  of  the  laboratory,  but  some  of  its  ores  are  of  con- 
siderable and  increasing  importance.  The  grey  and  black 
oxides  of  manganese  are  largely  used  for  the  manufacture 
of  the  chloride  of  lime,  a  substance  well  known  for  its  bleach- 
ing properties.  They  also  serve  in  the  fabrication  of  flint- 
glass,  as  a  means  for  correcting  the  green  tinge  which  it  is 
apt  to  derive  from  iron,  and  are  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  various  kinds  of  steel.  The  ores  of  manganese  are  chiefly 
provided  by  the  mines  of  Nassau,  which  in  1864  yielded 
14,460  tons,  and  of  Huelva  in  Spain,  which  furnished  24,430 
tons  in  1865.  Our  Cornish  mines  likewise  produce  consider- 
able quantities,  but  are  still  far  from  being  able  to  supply 
the  wants  of  our  colossal  industry,  which,  in  1866,  required 
the  importation  of  no  less  than  48,700  tons  of  oxide  of 
manganese  from  foreign  countries. 

Cadmium,  which  accompanies  most  of  the  zinc  ores,  was 
discovered  by  Stromeyer  in  1818.  Its  sulphuret  affords  a  fine 
yellow  pigment ;  but  the  metal  itself,  which  has  the  colour 
and  lustre  of  tin,  and  is  very  fusible  and  ductile,  has  no 
commercial  value. 

Rutile,  a  red-brown  mineral,  occurring  in  small  quantities 
in  the  Alps,  Norway,  and  many  other  localities,  where  it  is 
generally  found  in  crystals,  imbedded  in  quartz,  was  found 
by  Klaproth,  in  1795,  to  be  the  oxide  of  a  peculiar  metal 
which,  according  to  the  old  fashion  of  giving  mythological 
names  to  new  planets  and  metals,  obtained  the  name  of 
Titanium.    The  metal,  which  has  a  copper-red  colour,  has  not 


ALUMINIUM   AND    MAGNESIUM.  387 

hitherto  been  applied  to  use ;  but  rutile  is  employed  as  a 
yellow  colour  in  painting  porcelain,  and  also  for  giving  the 
requisite  tint  to  artificial  teeth. 

Like  Titanium,  the  metal  Molybdenum,  discovered  by 
Hjelm  in  1782,  is  as  yet  interesting  only  in  a  scientific 
point  of  view;  but  one  of  its  salts  is  used  by  the  cotton- 
printers  as  a  valuable  colouring  matter,  and  another  is  in- 
dispensable as  a  re-agent  in  many  chemical  researches. 
Thus  more  than  one  of  the  modern  metals  has  already  become 
an  important  object  to  the  porcelain-painter  or  the  dyer. 

Aluminium,  the  metal  which  Sir  H.  Davy  discovered  in 
clay  or  alumina,  and  of  which  the  purest  native  oxides  are 
the  varieties  of  corundum  (oriental  ruby,  sapphire,  &c),  has 
of  late  become  of  technical  importance,  and  though  the  cost 
of  its  production  is  very  great,  as  a  pound  of  aluminium  is 
worth  about  41.,  yet  it  already  serves  for  many  purposes. 
Its  silvery  lustre  and  perfect  unalterability  by  atmospherical 
influences  render  it  an  excellent  material  for  objects  of  art 
and  ornament,  and  from  its  low  specific  gravit}'  (2T5-0%)  it 
makes  excellent  tubes  for  telescopes  and  opera-glasses, 
which  when  composed  of  any  other  metal  are  of  a  fatiguing 
weight.  Even  culinary  vases  have  already  been  made  of 
aluminium,  for,  besides  its  perfect  innocuousness,  it  cools  very 
slowly  when  heated,  and  greasy  substances  do  not  adhere  to  it. 
Its  high  price  is  the  only  obstacle  which  has  hitherto  limited 
its  uses.  With  copper  it  forms  an  alloy  (aluminium-bronze) 
discovered  by  Dr.  John  Percy,  which  possesses  the  hardness, 
tenacity,  and  malleability  of  iron  without  its  liability  to  rust, 
and  consequently  has  already  found  numerous  applications. 
The  beautiful  gold  colour  of  this  alloy  makes  it  a  valuable 
material  for  the  fabrication  of  the  vases  and  ornaments  used 
in  Catholic  churches,  and  a  recent  decree  of  the  Pope  has 
authorised  its  employment  for  this  purpose. 

Magnesium,  the  metallic  basis  of  magnesia,  a  native  earth 
widely  disseminated  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  forming  a 
constituent  part  of  whole  mountain  chains,  had  ever  since  its 
discovery  by  Sir  Humphry  Davy  been  a  mere  object  of 
curiosity,  when  a  few  years  ago,  Mr.  Sonstadt,  an  English 
chemist,  succeeded  in  producing  it  in  larger  quantities.  Its 
silvery   brilliancy,  hardness,  and   ductility,  its  low  specific 

cc  2 


388  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

gravity,  and  unalterability  by  air  and  water,  are  qualities 
which  will  probably  lead  to  an  extensive  employment  when  a 
cheaper  method  of  production  shall  have  been  discovered ; 
but  even  now  it  has  found  a  highly  interesting  use.  It  is  so 
easily  inflammable  that  a  wire  of  considerable  thickness  can 
be  ignited  in  the  flame  of  a  candle,  and  the  light  evolved  by 
the  combustion  is  of  almost  solar  intensity.  In  lighthouses 
it  serves  to  guide  the  mariner  in  his  course ;  it  lights  up  the 
obscurest  recesses  of  stalactital  caverns,  and  with  its  assist- 
ance the  photographer  no  longer  depends  upon  the  sun,  and 
reveals  to  us  the  hidden  paintings  and  sculptures  of  rock- 
tombs  and  temples  as  distinctly  as  if  they  were  exposed  to 
the  light  of  day. 

Sodium,  the  metallic  basis  of  soda,  was  discovered  by  Sir 
Humphry  Davy  in  1807.  It  is  lighter  than  water,  and  white 
and  lustrous  as  silver ;  but  exposure  to  air  almost  immediately 
converts  it  into  soda.  Thus  it  can  never  become  directly 
useful,  like  aluminium  or  magnesium ;  but  being  indispen- 
sable for  reducing  the  ores  of  these  two  metals,  it  renders 
important  indirect  services,  and  is  consequently  produced  in 
considerable  quantities. 

Palladium,  one  of  the  hardest  and  heaviest  of  metals,  is  of 
a  steel  grey  colour,  passing  into  silver  white.  Its  alloy  with 
silver,  which  has  the  valuable  property  of  not  tarnishing  in 
air,  is  eminently  fitted  for  the  manufacture  of  delicate  scien- 
tific instruments.  The  Wollaston  medal,  given  by  the  Geo- 
logical Society,  is,  in  honour  of  its  discoverer,  made  of  palla- 
dium, which  is  considerably  dearer  than  gold. 

In  1804,  the  same  eminent  philosopher  discovered  another 
metal  in  native  platina,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Rhodium. 
Mixed  with  steel  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  fifty,  rhodium 
.  produces  an  excellent  metal  for  making  the  sharpest  cutting 
instruments,  and  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  rhodium  and 
steel  makes  the  best  telescopic  mirrors,  as  it  is  not  liable  to 
be  tarnished.  It  is  also  employed  for  making  the  unalterable 
nibs  of  the  so-called  rhodium  pens. 

Thallium,  though  one  of  the  newest  metals,  as  it  was 
discovered  by  Mr.  Crookes  as  recently  as  1861,  already  bids 
fair  to  render  some  important  services.  It  imparts  to  optical 
glasses  a  considerable    density  and   dispersive   power,   and 


THALLIUM.  389 

should  no  other  use  be  found  for  it,  this  alone  would  render 
it  a  valuable  acquisition. 

Such  is  the  brief  history  of  those  new  metals  which  have 
already  found  a  useful  employment  in  the  industrial  arts. 
It  throws  a  vivid  light  upon  the  rapid  progress  of  modern 
chemistry,  for  the  very  existence  of  most  of  them  was  un- 
dreamt of  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  their 
discovery  could  be  attained  only  by  an  amount  of  analytical 
knowledge  beyond  the  scope  of  any  previous  age.  On  wit- 
nessing these  triumphs  of  science  we  may  well  ask  where 
they  will  end,  and  when  the  goal  will  be  reached  beyond 
which  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  human  intellect  to 
penetrate  ? 


390  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

COAL. 

The  Age  of  Coal — Plants  of  the  Carboniferous  Age— Hugh  Miller's  Description  of 
a  Coal  Forest — Vast  Time  required  for  the  Formation  of  the  Coal-fields — Derange- 
ments and  Dislocations — Faults — Their  Disadvantages  and  Advantages — Bitu- 
minous Coals — Anthracites — Our  Black  Diamonds — Advantageous  Position  of 
our  Coa]  Mines — The  South  Welsh  Coal-field — Great  Central  and  Manchester 
Coal-fields — The  Whitehaven  Basin  and  the  Dudley  Area — Newcastle  and  Dur- 
ham Coal-fields — Costly  Winnings — A  Ball  in  a  Coal-pit — Submarine  Coal  Mines 
— Newcastle  View  from  Tynemouth  Priory — Hewers — Cutting  Machines — 
Putters — Onsetters  —  Shifters — Trapper  Boys — George  Stephenson — Eise  of 
Coal  Production — Probable  Duration  of  our  Supply — Prussian  Coal  Mines — 
Belgian — Coal  Mines  in  various  other  countries — Maunch  Chunck. 

THE  history  of  the  primitive  races  of  mankind,  as  far  as  we 
are  able  to  trace  it  in  the  few  relics  that  have  survived 
their  existence,  shows  ns  that  an  age  of  stone  was  followed 
by  one  of  bronze,  which  in  its  tnrn  was  succeeded  by  one  of 
iron.  The  Golden  Age  has  probably  never  existed  but  in  the 
fancy  of  poets  who  sought  in  the  land  of  dreams  a  compen- 
sation for  the  deficiencies  of  the  real  world ;  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that,  despite  California  and  Australia,  our  own 
times  are  as  far  from  realising  the  pleasing  vision  as  any 
before  them. 

But  a  title  to  which  they  have  a  better  claim  is  founded 
upon  the  vast  use  of  the  mineral  fuel  without  which  the 
glorious  inventions  of  Watt  and  Stephenson  would  have 
been  comparatively  vain ;  and  whoever  has  attentively  ex- 
amined the  foundations  of  our  industry,  our  commerce,  our 
wealth,  and  our  civilisation  will  hardly  deny  that  we  live  in 
what  may  justly  be  termed  the  Age  of  Coal. 

This  mineral,  the  importance  of  which  in  the  political 
economy  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  globe  can  hardly  be 
overrated,  is  also  one  of  surpassing  interest  in  a  geological 


IMPORTANCE    OF   COAL. 


391 


point  of  view,  for  the  history  of  its  formation  is  one  of  the 
great  marvels  of  the  subterranean  world. 

The  plants  whose  growth  and  decay  originally  furnished 
the  materials  of  which  our  black  coal*  is  composed,  nourished 
in  that  far  distant  period  when  as  yet  no  bird  or  mammalian 
quadruped  had  made  its  appearance,  when  even  the  gigantic 
Ichthyosaurus  was  not  yet  born,  and  the  progress  of  organic 
life  had  not  advanced  beyond  the  creation  of  some  uncouth 
reptiles  or  strangely  formed  fishes.  From  the  vast  space  of 
time  which  separates  us  from  the  carboniferous  age,  it  may 


PECOPTEBI8  ADIANTOIDES. 


SPHENOPTEKIS  AFFIXIS. 


easily  be  imagined  that  the  state  of  the  vegetable  world  was 
then  extremely  different  from  that  now  prevailing.  The 
vegetable  remains  which  constitute  coal  have  generally 
been  so  transformed  as  to  afford  no  trace  of  their  original 
texture  ;  yet  the  distinct  plants  found  here  and  there 
preserved  in  the  mass,  and  which  amount  to  about  five 
hundred  species,  plainly  bear  the  character  of  a  swampy 
vegetation,  and  show  that  they  must  have  grown  in  sub- 
merged,   or   at   least  extremely   humid,   situations.      They 

*  Lignite,  or  brown  coal,  is  of  more  modern  origin. 


392  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

consist  chiefly  of  ferns,  of  Lepidodendra,  allied  to  the  club- 
mosses  of  the  present  day,  of  a  few  coniferous  trees,  the 


ASTKKOPHYLL1TES  COMOSA. 


SIGILLARIA  OCULATA. 


woody  structure  of  some  of  them  showing  that  they  were 


FORMATION    OF    COAL. 


393 


related  to  the  Araucarian  division  of  pines,  more  than  to  any 
of  our  common  European  firs  ;  of  some  large  '  horsetails,'  and 
of  Sigillariaa  and  Calamites,  that  seem  to  have  been  distinct 
from  all  tribes  of  now  existing  plants.  Scanty  as  are  these 
relics  of  an  extinct  world,  they  yet  allow  the  fancy  to  re- 
construct the  forests  of  which  they  formed  a  part,  and  to 
wander  through  those  dismal  woods  where  generations  after 
generations  of  arborescent  ferns  and  moor-plants  flourished 
and  decayed  for  the  use  of  beings  that  were  to  appear 
millions  of  years  later  upon  the  stage  of  life. 


CALAMITIES    XODMSI'H. 


The  following  description  by  Hugh  Miller  will  assist  our 
fancy  in  roaming  among  the  primeval  thickets  from  which 
coal  was  formed  :  c  We  have  before  us  a  low  shore,  covered 
with  a  dense  vegetation.  Huge  trees  of  wonderful  form  stand 
out  far  into  the  water.  There  seems  no  intervening  beach.  A 
thick  hedge  of  reeds,  tall  as  the  masts  of  pinnaces,  runs  along 
the  deeper  bays,  like  water-flags  at  the  edge  of  a  lake.  A  river 
of  vast  volume  comes  rolling  from  the  interior,  darkening  the 
water  for  leagues  with  its  slime  and  mud,  and  bearing  with 
it  to  the  open  sea  reeds  and  ferns  and  cones  of  the  pine,  and 


394  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

immense  floats  of  leaves,  and  now  and  then  some  bulky  tree 
undermined  and  uprooted  by  the  current.  We  near  the 
coast,  and  now  enter  the  opening  of  the  stream.  A  scarce 
penetrable  phalanx  of  reeds,  that  attain  to  the  height  and 
wellnigh  to  the  bulk  of  forest  trees,  is  ranged  on  either 
hand.  The  bright  and  glossy  steins  seem  rodded  like  Gothic 
columns ;  the  pointed  leaves  stand  out  green  at  every  joint, 
tier  above  tier,  each  tier  resembling  a  coronal  wreath,  or  an 
ancient  crown  with  the  rays  turned  outwards,  and  we  see 
atop  what  may  be  either  large  spikes  or  catkins.  What 
strange  forms  of  vegetable  life  appear  in  the  forest  behind  ! 
Can  that  be  a  club-moss  that  raises  its  slender  height  for 
more  than  fifty  feet  from  the  soil  ?  Or  can  these  tall  palm- 
like trees  be  actually  ferns,  and  these  spreading  branches 
mere  fronds  ?  And  then  these  gigantic  reeds  !  are  they  not 
mere  varieties  of  the  common  horsetail  of  our  bogs  and 
marshes,  magnified  some  sixty  or  a  hundred  times  ?  Have 
we  arrived  at  some  such  country  as  the  continent  visited  by 
Gulliver,  in  which  he  found  thickets  of  weeds  and  grass 
tall  as  woods  of  twenty  years'  growth,  and  lost  himself  amid 
a  forest  of  corn  fifty  feet  in  height  ?  The  lesser  vegetation 
of  our  own  country,  its  reeds,  mosses,  and  ferns,  seems  here 
as  if  viewed  through  a  microscope,  the  dwarfs  have  sprung 
up  into  giants,  and  yet  there  appears  to  be  no  proportional 
increase  in  size  among  what  are  unequivocally  its  trees. 
Yonder  is  a  group  of  what  seem  to  be  pines — tall  and  bulky, 
'tis  true,  but  neither  taller  nor  bulkier  than  the  pines  of 
Norway  and  America.  There  is  an  amazing  luxuriance  of 
growth  all  around  us.  Scarce  can  the  current  make  way 
through  the  thickets  of  aquatic  plants  that  rise  thick  from 
the  muddy  bottom  ;  and  though  the  sunshine  falls  bright  on 
the  upper  boughs  of  the  tangled  forest  beyond,  not  a  ray 
penetrates  the  more  than  twilight  gloom  that  broods  over  the 
marshy  platform  below.  The  rank  steam  of  decaying  vege- 
tation forms  a  thick  blue  haze,  that  partially  obscures  the 
underwood.  Deadly  lakes  of  carbonic  acid  gas  have  accumu- 
lated in  the  hollows ;  there  is  a  silence  all  around,  uninter- 
rupted save  by  the  sudden  splash  of  some  reptile  fish  that 
has  risen  to  the  surface  in  pursuit  of  its  prey,  or  when  a 
sudden  breeze  stirs  the  hot  air,  and  shakes   the  fronds  of 


TIME   NEEDED    FOE   THE    COAL-FORMATION.  395 

the  giant  ferns,  or  the  catkins  of  the  reeds.  The  wide  con- 
tinent before  us  is  a  continent  devoid  of  animal  life,  save 
that  its  pools  and  rivers  abound  in  fish  and  mollusca,  and 
that  millions  and  tens  of  millions  of  the  infusory  tribes  swarm 
in  the  bogs  and  marshes.  Here  and  there,  too,  an  insect  of 
strange  form  flutters  among  the  leaves.  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  no  creature  furnished  with  lungs  of  the  more 
perfect  construction  could  have  breathed  the  atmosphere  of 
this  early  period  and  have  lived.' 

As  coal  seams  have  been  discovered  as  far  to  the  north  as 
Greenland,  Melville  Island,  and  Spitzbergen,  where  now  no 
trees  will  grow,  it  has  been  inferred  that,  in  the  primeval 
ages  which  witnessed  their  birth,  a  tropical  climate  must 
have  reigned  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth ;  but  the 
vegetation  of  arborescent  ferns  does  not  necessarily  imply 
a  very  warm  climate,  as  such  plants  are  found  to  flourish  in 
New  Zealand,  together  with  many  conifers  and  club-mosses, 
so  that  a  forest  in  that  temperate  country  may  make  a  nearer 
approach  to  the  carboniferous  vegetation  than  any  other  now 
existing  on  the  globe.  So  much  is  certain,  that  a  very 
different  distribution  of  sea  and  land  must  in  those  times 
have  mitigated  the  severity  of  the  Arctic  winter,  or,  perhaps, 
as  Professor  Oswald  Heer  conjectures,  our  solar  system  may 
then  have  rolled  through  a  space  more  densely  clustered  with 
stars,  whose  radiant  heat  gave  to  our  earth  the  advantage  of 
a  mild  climate,  even  at  the  poles. 

The  space  of  time  required  for  the  formation  of  the  coal- 
fields is  as  immeasurable  as  the  distance  that  separates  us 
from  Sirius.  We  know  by  experience  how  thin  the  sheet 
of  humus  is  which  the  annual  leaf- fall  of  our  trees,  or  the 
yearly  decay  of  our  moor-plants,  leaves  behind,  and  how 
many  decenniums  must  elapse  before  one  single  inch  of  solid 
mould  is  formed.  But  there  are  many  coal  strata  eight,  ten, 
or  even  forty  or  fifty  feet  thick  ;  and  if  we  consider  besides 
the  mighty  pressure  of  the  superincumbent  rocks  which  store 
them  in  the  smallest  compass,  we  cannot  possibly  doubt  that 
one  such  stratum  must  have  required  thousands  of  years  for 
its  formation.  Our  wonder  increases  when  we  reflect  that 
in  many  coal-measures  (the  series  of  beds  intimately  associ- 
ated with  the  seams  of  coal)  no  less  than  a  hundred  thick 


396  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

and  thin  seams  of  coal  alternate  with  layers  of  sandstone  and 
shale,  so  that  the  reckoning  would  swell  to  millions  were  we 
able  to  fathom  the  ages  of  their  successive  growth. 

It  may  well  be  asked  how  such  vast  masses  of  vegetable 
origin,  which  required  the  sun's  light  for  their  formation, 
came  thus  to  be  incased  in  stone  thousands  of  feet  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth  ?  More  than  one  theory  has  been 
advanced  to  solve  this  difficult  problem,  which  can  hardly  be 
explained  in  any  other  manner  than  by  a  general,  slowly 
progressing  subsidence  of  the  humid  lowlands,  alternating 
with  periods  of  rest.  Taney  a  wide  delta  land,  similar  to 
Egypt  or  the  Netherlands,  covered  with  luxuriant  forests, 
whose  spoils,  accumulating  where  they  fall,  form  in  the  course 
of  centuries  a  thick  stratum  of  vegetable  matter.  This  land 
then  sinks,  suddenly  or  gradually,  under  water,  many  a 
fathom  deep,  and  remains  there  perhaps  for  ten  thousand 
years,  till  a  vast  deposit  is  formed  of  sandstone  and  shale, 
brought  down  from  the  highlands  by  the  rivers  that  come 
rolling  from  the  interior,  the  pressure  of  which,  aided  by  water, 
converts  the  stratum  of  wood  into  coal.  By  this  deposit 
the  bottom  is  gradually  filled  up,  and  the  bay  again  con- 
verted into  marsh  or  meadow,  upon  which  again  vegetation 
flourishes  for  a  thousand  years  till  the  materials  of  a  second 
bed  of  coal  are  collected.  A  third  submergence  takes  place, 
rocky  strata  are  again  deposited,  the  water  again  shoals  into 
land  capable  of  bearing  plants,  a  third  period  of  forests 
commences,  and  continues  till  the  mass  of  vegetable  matter 
destined  to  form  a  new  bed  of  coal  is  accumulated.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  pursue  the  series  any  further ;  let  it  suffice  to 
say  that  in  this  manner  coal  followed  upon  sand,  or  sand  upon 
coal,  till  in  the  carboniferous  basin  of  Nova  Scotia,  for  in- 
stance, a  vertical  subsidence  of  three  miles  was  gradually 
filled  up  by  the  waste  swept  down  from  the  higher  lands,  or 
by  the  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter. 

Great  as  are  these  changes  of  level,  they  do  not  indicate 
any  more  considerable  or  violent  perturbations  than  those 
which  take  place  at  the  present  day,  either  from  earthquakes 
or  from  slow  oscillations  of  the  soil.  Large  areas  in  the 
Pacific  and  elsewhere  are  known  to  be  actually  subsiding 
at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  feet  in  the  century,  and  when 


DISLOCATION   OF   COAL-BEDS. 


397 


measured  on  the  scale  of  geological  time,  the  depression 
which  sunk  the  first  carboniferous  forests  of  South  Wales  or 
Nova  Scotia  to  the  depth  of  ten  or  twenty  thousand  feet, 
probably  proceeded  at  the  same  slow  rate.  Adding  to  these 
vast  epochs  of  gradual  subsidence  the  long  periods  of  rest 
which  intervened  between  them,  it  is  perhaps  no  exaggera- 
tion to  affirm  that  several  millions  of  years  may  have  been 
required  for  the  formation  of  a  coal-field  such  as  that  of 
Saarbriicken  or  South  Wales.  The  fossil  remains  inclosed 
in  the  various  layers  of  the  carboniferous  beds  alone  suffice 
to  prove  the  immensity  of  time  required  for  their  accumula- 
tion, for  the  species  of  ferns  or  lycopods  imbedded  in  the 
lower  seams  of  a  coal-field  are  found  gradually  to  disappear 


COAL-BEDS  RENDERED  AVAILABLE  BY  ELEVATION. 

a  b  c,  shafts,    abc,  coal-beds. 

in  the  higher  ones,  while  new  species  are  continually  ap- 
pearing on  rising  in  the  series,  until,  finally,  the  plants  of 
the  older  seams  have  completely  made  way  for  newer  forms. 
Thus  the  coal  formation  has,  during  the  vast  ages  of  its 
growth,  changed  more  than  once  the  aspect  of  its  flora,  and 
the  plants  which  flourished  in  its  youth  had  long  since  dis- 
appeared from  the  earth  when  it  approached  its  end. 

Although  all  coal-fields  must  have  originally  been  formed 
in  horizontal  or  slightly  undulating  situations,  yet  in  many 
cases  they  have  undergone  enormous  derangements  or  dis- 
locations from  subsequent  terrestrial  changes  ;  and  to  this 
circumstance  is  mainly  due  their  utility  to  man.  Had  they 
been  permitted  to  remain  in  their  primitive  geological  position, 


398 


THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


we  probably  should  never  have  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  the 
coal,  because  it  would  have  been  too  deep  for  our  reach. 
We  might  have  known  it  to  be  there,  but  it  would  have  been 
beyond  our  power  to  pierce  a  mile  or  two  into  the  earth. 
But,  by  a  wonderful  and  merciful  providence,  the  oscillations 
to  which  the  earth-rind  is  subject,  have  frequently  upheaved 
them  enormously  out  of  their  original  positions ;  and  the 
elevated  portions  having  often  been  denuded  by  water,  large 
patches  of  coal  have  thus  been  rendered  available  to  man. 

The  various  subterranean  changes  which  have  acted  upon 
the  coal-fields  during  the  course  of  unnumbered  ages  have 
not  only  raised  or  sunk,  but  frequently  dislocated,  contorted, 
ruptured,  or  broken  them  up  in  a  most  extraordinary  manner. 
In  the  coal-field  near  Mons,  in  Belgium,  for  instance,  a 
vast  lateral  pressure  has  curved  the  strata  again  and  again, 
and  even  folded  them  four  or  five  times  into  zigzag  bendings, 
so  that  on  sinking  a  shaft  the  same  continuous  layer  of  coal 
is  cut  through  several  times. 


SECTION    OF  COAL-FIELD    SOUTH   OF  MALMESBURY. 

1.  Old  red  sandstone.  5.  Coarse  sandstone.  9.  Great  oolite. 


2.  Mountain  limestone. 

3.  Millstone  grit. 

4.  Coal  seams. 


<:.  New  red  sandstone. 

7.  Lias. 

8.  Inferior  oolite. 


10.  Corn  brash  and 
forest  marl. 


Frequently  a  concave  form  has  been  the  result  of  these 
terrestrial  revolutions,  and  hence  coal-fields  are  often  called 
coal-basins.  Thus,  in  the  coal-field  south  of  Malmesbury,  the 
strata  appear  to  dip  from  the  surface,  and  rise  again  to  it 
after  attaining  a  certain  depth,  so  that  a  section  of  them 
suggests  the  idea  of  a  boat  or  basin. 

Very  commonly  one  portion  of  a  continuous  stratum  or 
series  of  strata  has  been  broken  away  from  the  rest,  and  has 
been  displaced,  either  by  elevation  or  depression,  or  shifting 
on  one  side,  for  various  distances.  The  amount  of  dis- 
placement is  sometimes  only  a  few  inches,  and  at  other  times 


FAULTS    IN   COAL-FIELDS.  399 

several  hundred  fathoms,  and  the  extent  may  be  twenty  yards 
or  twenty  miles. 

We  may  easily  conceive  the  difficulties  which  these  dis- 
ruptions frequently  throw  in  the  way  of  the  miner,  who 
in  following  what  he  considers  a  valuable  seam  of  coal  is 
suddenly  stopped  by  coming  in  contact  with  a  fault,  a 
trouble,  or  a  slip,  as  these  phenomena  are  expressively  called, 
and  finds  the  coal  shifted  several  yards  above  or  below,  or 
even  completely  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  the  miner,  thus 
provokingly  stopped  in  his  labours,  must  not  forget  that  it 
is  perhaps  owing  to  the  very  shifts  he  complains  of  that 
the  outcrop  of  the  coal  has  occurred  at  all  in  his  neighbour- 
hood, and  that  the  coal  is  workable  throughout  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  district  in  which  he  is  interested. 

A  most  important  advantage  is  also  derived  from  the 
existence  of  these  numerous  faults  in  coal  strata ;  namely, 
that  they  intersect  a  large  field  of  coal  in  all  directions,  and 
by  the  clayey  contents  which  fill  up  the  cracks  acccompany- 
ing  minor  faults,  they  become  natural  coffer-dams,  which 
prevent  the  body  of  water  accumulated  in  one  part  of  the 
field  from  flowing  into  any  opening  which  might  be  made  in 
it  in  another  part.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the  advantage 
arising  from  the  presence  of  a  great  line  of  fault  occurred  in 
the  year  1825  at  Gosforth,  near  Newcastle,  where  a  shaft  was 
dug  on  the  wet  side  of  what  is  locally  termed  the  Great  Ninety 
Fathom  Dyke,  which  there  intersects  the  coal-field.  The 
workings  were  immediately  inundated  with  water,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  abandon  them.  Another  shaft,  however, 
was  sunk  on  the  other  side  of  the  dyke,  only  a  few  yards 
from  the  former,  and  in  this  they  descended  nearly  200 
fathoms,  or  1,200  feet,  without  any  hindrance  from  the 
water. 

The  separation  of  a  coal-field  into  small  areas  by  dykes  or 
faults  is  likewise  very  beneficial  in  case  of  fire  in  a  coal-pit, 
for  in  this  case  the  combustion  is  prevented  from  spreading 
widely,  and  destroying,  as  it  otherwise  would,  the  whole  of 
the  ignited  seam. 

'  The  natural  disposition  of  coal  in  detached  portions,'  says 
the  author  of  an  excellent  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  * 

*  Vol.  cxi.  p.  80. 


400  THE   SUBTERKANEAX    WORLD. 

6  is  not  simply  a  phenomenon  of  geology,  but  it  also  bears 
upon  national  considerations.  It  is  remarkable  that  this 
natural  disposition  is  that  which  renders  the  fuel  most  ac- 
cessible and  most  easily  mined.  Were  the  coal  situated  at 
its  normal  geological  depth,  that  is,  supposing  the  strata  to  be 
all  horizontal  and  undisturbed  or  upheaved  (sic),  it  would  be 
far  below  human  reach.  Were  it  deposited  continuously  in 
one  even  superficial  layer,  it  would  have  been  too  readily, 
and  therefore  too  quickly  mined,  and  all  the  superior  qualities 
would  be  wrought  out,  and  only  the  inferior  left ;  but  as  it 
now  lies,  it  is  broken  up  by  geological  disturbances  into 
separate  portions,  each  defined  and  limited  in  area,  each 
sufficiently  accessible  to  bring  it  within  man's  reach  and 
labour,  each  manageable  by  mechanical  arrangements,  and 
each  capable  of  gradual  excavation  without  being  subject 
to  sudden  exhaustion.  Selfish  plundering  is  partly  prevented 
by  natural  barriers,  and  we  are  warned  against  reckless  waste 
by  the  comparative  thinness  of  coal-seams,  as  well  as  by  the 
ever-augmenting  difficulty  of  working  them  at  increased 
depths.  By  the  separation  of  seams  one  from  another,  and 
by  varied  intervals  of  waste  sandstones  and  shales,  such 
a  measured  rate  of  mining  is  necessitated  as  precludes  us 
from  entirely  robbing  posterity  of  the  most  valuable  mineral 
fuel,  while  the  fuel  itself  is  preserved  from  those  extended 
fractures  and  crumblings  and  falls  which  would  certainly  be 
the  consequence  of  largely  mining  the  best  bituminous  coal, 
were  it  aggregated  into  one  vast  mass.  In  fact,  by  an 
evident  exercise  of  forethought  and  benevolence  in  the  Great 
Author  of  all  our  blessings,  our  invaluable  fuel  has  been 
stored  up  for  us  in  deposits  the  most  compendious,  the  most 
accessible,  yet  the  least  exhaustible,  and  has  been  locally 
distributed  into  the  most  convenient  situations.  Our  coal- 
fields are,  in  fact,  so  many  bituminous  banks,  in  which  there 
is  abundance  for  an  adequate  currency,  but  against  any 
sudden  run  upon  them  nature  has  interposed  numerous 
checks,  by  locking  up  whole  reserves  of  the  precious  fuel  in 
the  bank  cellar,  under  the  invincible  protection  of  ponderous 
stone-beds.' 

If  we  examine  the  nature  of  the  mineral  fuel  thus  pro- 
vided for  us  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  we  find  a  number 
of  varieties  greatly  differing  from   each  other  in  chemical 


=? 


Map  showing  the 

COAL   FIELDS 

aaid 

CHIEF   MINING   DISTRICTS 


GREAT   BRITAIN 


Caab  Firlds 
Mineral  Districts 


CAUSES    OF    VARIETIES    IN    COAL.  401 

composition  and  in  combustible  value.  Thus  the  anthracites 
or  non-bituminous  coals,  which  contain  from  eighty-five  to 
ninety-seven  per  cent,  of  pure  carbon,  are  not  easily  ignited, 
and  yield  no  flame  and  but  little  or  no  smoke. 

The  bituminous  coals,  on  the  contrary,  contain  a  large  pro- 
portion of  volatile  matter,  amounting  to  as  much  as  thirty, 
forty,  or  fifty  per  cent.,  and  are  consequently  very  inflam- 
mable, burning  with  a  bright  flame,  considerable  smoke,  and 
a  penetrating  odour. 

But  as  Nature  in  general  does  not  love  those  sharp  divisions 
to  which  theorists  are  so  partial,  thus  also  there  is  no  fixed 
boundary  between  these  two  classes  of  mineral  fuel ;  and  we 
find  an  uninterrupted  series  of  intermediate  qualities  between 
pure  anthracite  and  the  fattest  coal. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  if  coal  were  of  one  uniform 
chemical  composition,  its  utility  would  be  confined  within 
narrower  limits,  as  the  bituminous,  semi-bituminous,  and 
anthracital  varieties  have  each  their  distinguishing  proper- 
ties which  adapt  each  to  special  uses.  Some  kinds,  from 
their  richness  in  volatile  bituminous  matter,  are  excellent 
for  the  manufacture  of  illuminating  gas,  while,  from  their 
smaller  proportion  of  carbon,  they  could  hardly  be  used  for 
the  making  of  iron ;  and  the  anthracites,  which  yield  little 
or  no  gas,  are  very  serviceable  for  smelting  or  domestic 
purposes. 

It  appears  from  the  researches  of  modern  chemist^  that 
the  different  varieties  of  coal  are  due  to  the  progress  of  de- 
composition which  wood  and  vegetable  matter  undergo  when 
buried  in  the  earth,  exposed  to  moisture,  and  partially  or 
entirely  excluded  from  the  air.  Slowly  evolving  carbonic 
acid  gas,  and  thus  parting  with  a  portion  of  their  original 
oxygen,  they  become  gradually  converted  into  lignite  or 
wood-coal,  which  contains  a  larger  proportion  of  hydrogen 
than  wood  does.  A  continuance  of  decomposition  changes 
this  lignite  into  common  or  bituminous  coal,  chiefly  by  the 
discharge  of  carburetted  hydrogen,  or  the  gas  by  which  we 
illuminate  our  streets  and  houses ;  and  bituminous  coal  still 
continuing  to  evolve  its  volatile  matter,  not  only  after  its 
being  covered  with  strata  thousands  of  feet  in  thickness,  but 
even  to  the  present  day  (as  the  fire-damp  sufficiently  proves) 

D  D 


402  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

is  thus  ultimately  transformed  into  anthracite,  to  which  the 
various  names  of  splint- coal,  glance- coal,  hard-coal,  and 
culm  have  been  given. 

When  we  consider  the  manner  in  which  coal  has  been 
formed  in  swampy  lowlands,  or  more  particularly  in  river- 
deltas,  which  gradually  subsided  to  a  considerable  depth 
beneath  the  level  of  the  sea,  we  cannot  wonder  that,  when 
compared  with  the  whole  extent  of  the  globe,  the  area  of  the 
coal-fields  is  extremely  limited,  and  confined  to  but  a  few 
favoured  countries.  In  our  times  delta  lands  occupy  but  a 
small  part  of  the  continents  and  large  islands,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  more  considerable 
during  the  carboniferous  age,  or  at  any  other  epoch.  Be- 
sides, many  of  the  ancient  deltas,  probably,  never  subsided 
at  all,  so  that  no  coal  could  be  formed  on  their  site ;  and 
others,  where  coal  strata  were  gradually  piled  up,  may  still 
be  whelmed  beneath  the  sea  awaiting  some  future  upheaval 
to  become  serviceable  to  future  generations  of  man. 

After  the  preliminary  remarks  on  coal  and  the  coal 
formation  in  general,  I  will  now  briefly  describe  the  chief 
coal-producing  countries  of  the  globe.  First  on  the  list 
stands  Great  Britain,  whose  pre-eminence  in  industry  and 
commerce  is  entirely  founded  on  her  vast  deposits  of  coal. 
It  is  this  invaluable  mineral  which  sets  those  countless 
steam-engines  in  motion  that  perform  the  labours  of  a 
hundred  millions  of  men  ;  which  spins  and  weaves  the  cotton 
of  America,  the  silk  of  China,  the  wool  of  Australia,  and  the 
flax  of  Belgium  into  that  amazing  variety  of  tissues  that 
serve  to  clothe  almost  all  the  nations  of  the  globe ;  and  which 
finally  produces  a  greater  quantity  of  the  cheapest  iron  than 
the  combined  efforts  of  all  the  world.  Thus  our  coals  ma}r 
well  be  called  our  black  diamonds,  and  the  comparison  is 
indeed  paying  the  latter  too  high  a  compliment,  for  larger 
masses  of  diamonds  would  be  utterly  worthless,  while,  by  means 
of  our  coal,  we  are  able  to  enjoy  the  produce  of  every  zone. 

Not  only  do  our  fifty-one  coal-fields  surpass  in  magnitude 
those  which  are  disseminated  over  a  far  greater  territory 
in  Germany,  Belgium,  and  France ;  but  their  local  distribu- 
tion and  geological  formation  are  as  favourable  as  could 
possibly  be  wished.     Furthest  north  we  see  the  considerable 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   COAL.  403 

deposits  of  Scotland  extending  from  the  coast  of  Fife  to  the 
valley  of  the  Clyde.  It  is  to  them  that  Glasgow  owes  its 
half-a- million  of  inhabitants,  and  a  wealth  far  surpassing 
that  of  all  Scotland  under  the  reign  of  '  bonnie  '  Queen 
Mary.  In  England,  north  of  the  Trent,  along  the  Wear 
and  Tyne,  and  even  extending  far  beneath  the  sea,  we  have 
the  coal-fields  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,  with  Cum- 
berland   and    those    of    Yorkshire,   Nottinghamshire,    and 


COAL  BASIN   OF  CLACKMANNANSHIRE. 

a,  b.  Coal  seams,    c.  Limestone  strata,    x,  y.  Slips. 

Derbyshire.  After  these  comes  the  large  field  of  Lancashire, 
or,  as  it  is  sometimes  named,  the  Manchester  Coal-field. 
Looking  to  the  central  districts,  we  see  the  coals  of  North 
and  South  Staffordshire  and  of  Leicestershire.  In  the 
north-west  we  have  the  field  of  North  Wales  ;  in  the  more 
central  west,  the  deposits  of  the  Plain  of  Shrewsbury,  Coal- 
brook  Dale,  and  the  Clee  Hills ;  and  in  the  south-west,  the 
great  coal-field  of  South  Wales,  and  the  minor  ones  of  the 
Forest  of  Dean,  of  Somersetshire,  and  of  Gloucestershire. 

The  inspection  of  a  good  geological  map  shows  us  at  once 
how  advantageously  for  commerce  these  several  coal-stores 
are  distributed.  Every  large  coal-field  in  England  and 
Scotland  is  hardly  ever  distant  more  than  thirty  miles  from 
the  next,  so  that  from  the  Clyde  to  Somersetshire  the  whole 
interior  of  the  country  can  easily,  by  means  of  canals  and 
railroads,  be  provided  with  fuel.  The  east  and  west  coasts 
of  the  land  are  nowhere  above  fifty  miles  from  a  coal-field  ; 
and  even  the  most  remote  localities  in  the  three  kingdoms 
are  able  to  provide  themselves  from  distances  within  150 
miles. 

But  it  is  chiefly  the  neighbourhood  of  the  sea  which  gives 
such  an  incomparable  value  to  our  most  important  coal- 
fields ;  as,  thanks  to  this  advantageous  situation,  which  none 
of  the  French,  Belgian,  and  German  coal-fields  possess, 
Great  Britain  is  enabled  to  provide  not  only  her  own  coast- 

i)  i)  2 


404  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

towns,  but  almost  all  the  sea-ports  in  the  world,  with  a  cheaper 
fuel  than  can  be  produced  in  their  own  country.  Even  in 
Ostend,  Belgian  coal,  rendered  dear  by  canal  transport,  is 
unable  to  compete  with  that  which  is  brought  over  sea  from 
England  ;  and  Hamburg  provides  herself  with  fuel  from 
Newcastle  and  Hartlepool,  and  not  from  the  coal-fields  of 
Saxony  and  Westphalia. 

Coal  is  found  in  seventeen  counties  in  Ireland,  over  an  area 
of  about  3,000  square  miles.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this 
great  abundance  of  coal  which  the  country  possesses,  and 
which  is  distributed  throughout  almost  all  parts  of  the  island, 
from  Limerick  to  Antrim,  her  capital  and  chief  cities  and 
ports  have  hitherto  depended  upon  Great  Britain  for  their 
supplies  of  mineral  fuel,  both  for  domestic  and  for  manufac- 
turing purposes.  To  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
actual  circumstances,  it  appears  scarcely  credible  that  this 
fine  country  has  made  so  little  use  of  the  coal  which  has 
been  so  bountifully  bestowed  upon  her.  Among  other  causes 
not  political,  which  perpetuate  this  state  of  things,  is  the 
extraordinary  facility  and  cheapness  with  which  the  ports  of 
Ireland  can  be  supplied  from  the  great  western  coal-fields  of 
Great  Britain.  The  excellence,  abundance,  and  cheapness  of 
peat,  which  is  not  only  the  common  fuel  of  the  poor  in  the 
interior,  and,  indeed,  of  all  classes  in  some  districts,  but  is 
also  brought  in  barges  by  the  great  canal,  and  consumed  to 
a  considerable  amount  in  the  capital  itself,  is  another  reason 
why  the  Irish  coal-mines  have,  as  yet,  been  so  little  worked. 

When  we  consider  the  vast  importance  of  coal,  we  cannot 
wonder  at  the  paramount  influence  which  it  has  exercised 
over  the  distribution  of  our  population  in  modern  times. 
While  Salisbury,  Winchester,  and  Canterbury — important 
towns  of  mediaeval  England — are  reduced  to  atrophy  from 
the  distance  and  absence  of  coal-fields,  Newcastle,  Leeds, 
Manchester,  Sheffield,  Birmingham,  Glasgow,  and  a  host 
of  other  flourishing  towns  may  truly  be  said  to  be  built  on 
coal. 

Where  there  are  large  coal-fields  there  is  life  and  a  pro- 
spect of  almost  unlimited  prosperity,  for  they  are  sure  to 
attract  machinery  and  man.  Take  a  geological  map  of  a 
new  and  thinly- populated  country ;  and  if  it  be  marked  with 


ENGLISH   AND   WELSH   COAL-FIELDS.  405 

coal-fields  the  spots  where  large  cities  will  exist  hereafter 
may  be  safely  determined, 

A  more  detailed  examination  of  the  chief  coal-fields  of 
England  shows  us  the  immensity  of  the  mineral  riches  which 
are  here  still  hoarded  up  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions. 

The  superficial  extent  of  the  South  Welsh  coal-fields  is 
about  a  thousand  square  miles.  On  its  northern  wing  we 
find  on  an  average  twenty-one  coal  bands,  forming  an  aggre- 
gate thickness  of  eighty  and  a  half  feet.  In  some  parts  of 
the  south  wing  there  are  even  as  many  as  thirty-three  bands 
of  an  aggregate  thickness  of  one  hundred  and  four  feet  of 
pure  coal,  so  that  the  average  depth  of  the  field  may  be  esti- 
mated at  ninety-two  feet. 

Numerous  transversal  valleys  intersect  this  magnificent 
coal-field,  and  afford  the  easiest  means  of  working  it  in  every 
depth.  They  also  facilitate  the  transport  of  the  coal  on  the 
canals  and  railroads  which  lead  along  their  bottom  or  along 
their  slopes  to  the  harbours  of  the  Bristol  Channel.  In  the 
chapters  on  iron  and  copper,  I  have  had  occasion  to  describe 
the  gigantic  industries,  founded  on  these  natural  advantages, 
which  have  raised  South  Wales  from  being  one  of  the  most 
insignificant  into  one  of  the  most  important  provinces  of 
the  empire. 

All  the  coals  of  this  basin  are  so  rich  in  carbon  as  to  yield 
from  seventy  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  coke.  They  are  either 
anthracites  or  only  semi-bituminous,  and  are  consequently 
not  suitable  for  making  gas,  nor  are  they  much  liked  for 
burning  in  open  fire-places,  as  they  do  not  emit  a  genial 
flame.  On  the  other  hand,  the  semi-bituminous  Welsh  coal 
is  invaluable  for  burning  in  steam-engines,  for  it  has  been 
proved  to  generate  one-quarter  more  steam  than  any  other  kind 
of  English  coal.  One  of  its  properties — by  no  means  unim- 
portant— is  its  non-liability  to  spontaneous  combustion,  which, 
it  is  well  known,  occasionally  takes  place  with  bituminous 
coals,  and  by  which  vessels  have  been  lost  at  sea,  and  ware- 
houses ignited  on  land.  The  value  of  the  Welsh  steam  or 
slightly  bituminous  coal  is  enhanced  by  its  quality  of  burn- 
ing almost  without  smoke,  a  property  hitherto  slightly  appre- 
ciated, but  the  importance  of  which  in  time  of  war  is  evident. 


406  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Steamers  burning  the  fat,  bituminous  coal  can  be  tracked  at 
sea  at  least  seventy  miles,  before  their  hulls  become  visible, 
by  the  dense  columns  of  black  smoke  pouring  out  of  their 
pipes  or  chimneys,  and  trailing  along  the  horizon.  It  is  a 
complete  tell-tale  of  their  whereabouts,  which  is  not  the  case 
with  vessels  burning  Welsh  or  anthracital  coal.  From  its 
compactness  and  density,  the  latter  has  likewise  great  ad- 
vantages in  point  of  stowage  space  over  the  ordinary  weak 
bituminous  coals.  For  long  voyages  this  concentration  of 
power  and  economy  of  space  may  easily  be  appreciated. 
From  its  great  superiority  over  other  kinds,  Welsh  coal  has 
been  exclusively  used  for  some  time  past  by  the  French 
Government,  and  it  is  also  employed  in  England  by  all  the 
chief  mail  packet  companies. 

Coal  is  not  exported  from  the  South  Wales  basin  as  much 
as  from  some  other  fields,  owing  to  the  enormous  require- 
ments of  the  large  iron  works,  most  of  which  consume  as 
much  as  can  be  supplied  by  their  collieries.  Every  week, 
however,  sees  increased  supplies  of  Welsh  coal  thrown  into  the 
London  market,  and  every  year  fresh  collieries  are  opened  to 
meet  the  demand.  The  total  number  of  pits  in  South  Wales 
in  1865  was  four  hundred  and  eighteen,  which  produced 
between  seven  and  eight  million  tons  annually.  The  New 
Navigation  Pit  at  Mountain  Ash  may  be  cited  as  an  example 
of  the  grand  scale  on  which  the  most  important  of  these 
workings  are  conducted.  The  shaft  is  eighteen  feet  in  dia- 
meter inside  the  walling,  and  divided  into  four  compart- 
ments, two  of  which  are  for  the  drawing  of  coal,  one  for 
sending  the  workmen  up  and  down,  and  the  fourth  for  the 
drainage.  Notwithstanding  the  great  depth  of  three  hundred 
and  seventy  yards,  a  carriage  containing  two  half- tons  of 
coal  can  be  wound  up  in  one  minute,  and  the  whole  colliery 
is  estimated  to  supply  more  than  one  thousand  tons  a  day. 
The  mineral  property  extends  over  an  area  of  seven  miles 
long  by  three  miles  in  width,  covering  from  four  thousand 
to  five  thousand  acres  of  four-foot  coal.  From  this  one  case 
the  reader  may  form  a  slight  estimate  of  the  boundless  re- 
sources of  the  whole  basin. 

The  Great  Central  Coal-field,  which  ranges  through  South 
Yorkshire.  Nottinghamshire,  and  Derbyshire,  has  a  superficial 


COAL-FIELDS    OF   NEWCASTLE    AND    DURHAM.  407 

extent  of  about  one  thousand  square  miles.  In  character  it 
is  closely  allied  to  that  of  Newcastle,  and  is  considered  by 
some  geologists  to  be  a  re-emergence  of  the  same  strata  from 
beneath  the  covering  of  the  magnesian  limestone  under  which 
they  suppose  it  to  be  concealed  through  the  intervening 
space.  It  extends  a  little  from  the  north-east  of  Leeds 
nearly  to  Derby,  a  distance  of  more  than  sixty-five  miles. 
Its  greatest  width — twenty-three  miles — is  on  the  north, 
reaching  nearly  to  Halifax  on  the  west.  On  the  south  it 
extends  towards  the  east  to  Nottingham,  and  is  there  about 
twelve  miles  wide.  Though  possessing  some  fine  coal-seams, 
it  is  of  far  inferior  importance  to  the  Manchester  or  South 
Lancashire  Coal-field,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  a  lofty 
chain  of  hills.  This  highly  valuable  basin,  which  extends 
over  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles,  begins  in  the 
north-west  of  Derbyshire,  and  continues  thence  to  the  south- 
west part  of  Lancashire,  forming  an  area  somewhat  in  the 
shape  of  a  crescent,  having  Manchester  nearly  in  the  centre. 
Of  the  smaller  coal-fields,  the  most  important  are  the 
Whitehaven  basin  (one  hundred  and  twenty  square  miles) 
and  the  Dudley  or  South  Staffordshire  area  (ninety  square 


DUDLEY  COAL-FIELD. 
1.  Limestone  strata.     2.  Coal. 


miles)  which  is  particularly  valuable  for  the  extensive  iron 
works  which  it  maintains.  One  portion  of  this  coal-field  is 
distinguished  by  the  presence  of  one  continuous  bed  of  coal 
thirty  feet  thick,  which  for  British  coal  is  astonishing ;  and 
this  mass  extends  seven  miles  in  length  and  four  in  breadth. 
In  this  favoured  district  coal-seams  five  or  six  feet  thick  are 
called  thin  seams ;  in  Newcastle  they  would  be  called  thick 
seams. 

Though  not  so  extensive  as  the  South  Welsh  area,  the 
coal-fields  of  Newcastle  and  Durham  are  of  far  more  ancient 
celebrity.  Their  produce  is  chiefly  shipped  on  the  Tyne, 
Wear,  and  Tees,  small  rivers  hardly  traceable  on  a  map  of 
the  world,  and  yet  far  more  important  to  commerce  than  the 


408  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

mighty  Orinoco  or  the  thousand-armed  Amazon.  This  mag- 
nificent coal  area  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  river  Coquet, 
and  extends  southward  nearly  as  far  as  Hartlepool,  a  distance 
of  about  forty-eight  miles.  Its  extreme  breadth  is  about 
twenty-four  miles,  and  the  whole  superficial  extent  may 
amount  to  about  eight  hundred  square  miles. 

There  are  in  all  about  fifty-seven  different  seams  of  coal  in 
the  Great  Northern  Coal-field,  varying  in  thickness  from  an 
inch  to  five  feet  five  inches  and  six  feet,  and  comprising  an 
aggregate  of  about  seventy-six  feet  of  coal. 

The  pits  are  established  chiefly  with,  reference  to  one  or 
more  of  the  three  following  seams.  The  most  valuable  is 
called  the  High  Main  Seam,  and  is  about  six  feet  thick.  The 
next  in  value  is  the  Bensham  Seam,  about  three  feet  thick, 
which  is  remarkable  for  its  excellent  quality  as  a  domestic 
coal,  and  for  the  enormous  quantity  of  gas  evolved  from  it  in 
the  mine.  The  Hutton  or  Low  Main  Seam,  averaging  from 
three  feet  six  inches  to  five  feet  nine  inches,  is  likewise  of 
very  good  quality,  and  is  extensively  worked.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  remarked  that  the  same  seam  of  coal  is  not  generally 
valuable  in  all  places.  Thus  the  High  Main,  which  furnishes 
excellent  coal  on  the  Tyne,  becomes  injured  as  it  proceeds  in 
a  south-easterly  direction  by  being  intermixed  with  a  band 
of  coal  of  inferior  quality  containing  iron  pyrites,  &c. 

The  Newcastle  Coal-field  is  generally  worked  at  a  great 
depth,  an  expense  of  upwards  of  50,000Z.  having  in  some 
instances  been  incurred  before  the  seam  of  coal  was  reached 
which  was  to  reward  all  this  vast  outlay  and  labour.  The 
most  remarkable  and  enterprising  work  of  this  kind  on 
record  is  a  sinking  at  Monk  Wearmouth  Colliery  near 
Sunderland.  After  piercing  the  superincumbent  beds  of 
magnesian  limestone  and  lower  new  red  sandstone,  the  coal 
strata  were  reached  at  a  depth  of  three  hundred  and  thirty 
feet ;  but  at  the  same  time  a  spring  was  tapped  which  poured 
water  into  the  workings  at  the  rate  of  three  thousand 
gallons  per  minute.  This  fearful  influx  was  kept  under  by  a 
steam-engine  of  two  hundred  horse-power,  and  the  work  was 
made  sure  by  strong  metal  tubbing,  and  carried  on  success- 
fully, though  not  without  extreme  difficulty.  On  entering  the 
coal  measures,  however,  a  new  and  unexpected  check  was 


OUTLAY   OF   CAPITAL    IN   COAL-MINES.  409 

experienced  in  the  extra  thickness  of  the  uppermost  coal 
strata,  for  which  no  calculation  had  been  made,  and  the 
difficulties  were  increased  when  at  the  depth  of  one  thousand 
feet  a  fresh  feeder  or  spring  of  water  was  tapped.  Additional 
expense  and  great  loss  of  time  were  thus  caused;  but  the  pro- 
prietors persevered  with  real  Anglo-Saxon  pertinacity,  un- 
daunted bythe  apparently  hopeless  nature  of  the  undertaking, 
and  by  the  fearful  expenses  incurred.  Success  crowned  their 
efforts,  and  finally,  at  a  depth  of  1,710  feet,  the  Hutton  seam 
of  coal  was  reached,  at  a  cost  which,  including  the  necessary 
preliminary  operations,  could  not  have  been  less  than  100,000/. 
Another  remarkable  and  costly  piece  of  mining  was  that  of 
Gosforth  Colliery,  which  lies  about  three  miles  north  from 
Newcastle,  on  the  west  bank  of  a  romantic  '  dean  '  or  little 
valley,  through  which  the  Ouseburn  winds  its  way  to  the  Tyne. 
The  sinking  was  commenced  in  1825,  and  the  coal  was  won 
on  Saturday,  January  31,  1829.  The  High  Main  coal  was 
reached  at  twenty- five  fathoms  below  the  surface,  but  near 
its  first  appearance  the  seam  was  thrown  down  in  an  in- 
clined direction  by  the  great  Mnety  Fathom  Dyke  which 
there  intersects  the  coal-field.  Hence  it  became  necessary 
to  sink  the  shaft  to  the  depth  of  181  fathoms,  in  order  to 
come  at  the  level  of  the  lower  range  of  coal.  This  having 
been  accomplished,  a  horizontal  drift  700  yards  long  was 
worked  through  the  face  of  the  dyke  to  the  seam  of  coal  a 
little  above  its  junction  with  the  dyke.  A  great  part  of  this 
excavation  had  to  be  made  through  solid  rock.  To  celebrate 
the  completion  of  this  remarkable  work,  a  grand  subter- 
ranean ball  was  given  at  the  very  place  of  triumph,  1,100 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth.  As  the  guests  arrived 
at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  they  went  to  the  end  of  the  drift 
to  the  face  of  the  coal,  where  each  person  hewed  a  piece  of 
coal  as  a  memento  of  the  day,  and  then  returned  to  the  ball- 
room, which  was  brilliantly  lit  up,  and  where  born-and-bred 
ladies  joined  in  a  general  dance  with  born-and-bred  pitmen's 
daughters.  Between  200  and  300  persons  were  present,  nearly 
one-half  of  them  belonging  to  the  fair  sex.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  pit  had  not  been  worked,  so  that  no  smoke  and 
dust  exuded  from  its  mouth  or  defiled  the  ball-room. 

Some  of  the  older  coal-pits,  where  excavations  have  been 


410  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

going  on  perhaps  for  a  century  or  more,  may  be  likened  to 
large  subterranean  cities.  The  galleries  of  St.  Hilda  Colliery, 
near  South  Shields,  are  full  seventy  miles  long ;  and  Killing- 
worth  pits  are  said,  on  good  authority,  to  have  nearly  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles  of  gallery  excavation. 

In  some  parts  the  operations  of  the  collier  have  encroached 
upon  the  domains  of  the  ocean.  At  the  Howgill  pits,  for 
instance,  west  of  Whitehaven,  the  excavations  have  been 
carried  more  than  1,000  yards  under  the  sea,  and  about  600 
feet  below  its  bottom.  But  the  most  remarkable  marine 
colliery  which  Great  Britain  has  ever  possessed  was  situated 
at  Borrowstounness.  The  coal  was  found  to  continue  under 
the  bed  of  the  sea  in  this  place,  and  the  colliers  had  the 
courage  to  work  it  half  a  mile  from  the  shore,  where  there  was 
an  entry  that  went  down  into  the  submarine  coal-pit.  This 
was  made  into  a  kind  of  round  quay,  built  so  as  to  keep  out 
the  tide  which  flowed  there  twelve  feet.  Here  the  coals  were 
laid,  and  a  ship  of  that  draught  of  water  could  lay  her  side 
to  the  quay  and  take  in  the  coal.  This  wonderful  pit,  which 
belonged  to  the  Earl  of  Kincardine's  family,  continued  to  be 
wrought  many  years  to  the  great  profit  of  the  owners,  and 
the  astonishment  of  all  that  saw  it ;  but  at  last  an  unex- 
pected high  tide  drowned  the  whole  at  once,  together  with 
the  labourers  who  were  at  work.  '  While,'  says  the  French 
geologist,  Faujas  de  Saint  Fond  (who  visited  this  remarkable 
mine  about  the  end  of  the  last  century),  '  the  pitmen,  by  the 
dismal  shine  of  their  lamps,  make  the  deep  caverns  resound 
with  the  blows  of  their  pickaxes,  ships  driven  by  a  fair  wind 
sail  over  their  heads,  and  the  sailors,  rejoicing  at  the  beautiful 
weather,  express  their  joy  in  songs  :  at  another  time  a  storm 
arises ;  the  horizon  is  in  flames,  the  thunder  roars,  the  sea 
rages,  the  boldest  tremble ;  then  the  pitmen,  unconscious  of 
the  terrible  scene,  calmly  pursue  their  labours,  and  think 
with  pleasure  of  their  homes,  while  the  ship  above  is  shattered 
to  pieces  and  sinks ;  unfortunately,  but  too  faithful  a  picture 
of  the  daily  changes  of  human  life.' 

Nowhere  in  the  world,  perhaps,  does  human  activity  display 
a  more  restless  energy  than  on  the  site  of  the  Newcastle  Coal- 
field, where,  night  and  day,  successive  trains  heaped  with  the 
black  diamonds  of  England  speed  along  far- stretching  rail- 


80  70  60 50 


Edw^W. 


OPERATIONS   OF   A   COLLIERY.  411 

ways,  and  hurry  down  to  river  and  ocean,  until  they  are 
unloaded  and  their  contents  shipped  by  machinery.  Steam- 
engines  are  unceasingly  at  work  drawing  coals  and  pumping 
out  water.  Thousands  of  men  are  underneath  our  feet  cut- 
ting down  the  coal  by  severe  and  peculiar  labour,  while 
thousands-  above  are  receiving  the  loads  and  speeding  them 
forwards. 

'  Go  where  you  will,  there  is  a  network  of  small  railways, 
leading  from  pit  to  pit  in  hopeless  intricacy,  but  all  having 
a  common  terminus  on  the  river's  bank  or  the  ocean's  shore. 
Go  where  you  will,  tall  chimneys  rise  up  before  you,  and  here 
and  there  a  low  line  of  black  sheds,  flanked  by  chimneys  of 
aspiring  altitude,  indicates  that  you  are  arriving  at  a  colliery. 
As  you  draw  nearer,  men  and  boys  of  blackest  hue  pass  you 
and  peer  at  you  with  inquiring  glances.  Now  trains  of  coal- 
waggons  rush  by  more  frequently,  noises  of  the  most  dis- 
cordant character  increase,  and  you  know  that  you  are  at 
the  pit's  mouth,  when  you  behold  two  gigantic  wooden  arms 
slanting  upwards,  upon  which  are  mounted  the  pulleys  and 
wheels  that  carry  the  huge  flat  wire  ropes  of  the  shaft. 
For  a  moment  the  wheels  do  not  revolve — no  load  is  ascend- 
ing or  descending — but  the  next  minute  they  turn  rapidly, 
and  up  comes  the  load  of  coals  or  human  beings  to  the  sur- 
face. Perhaps  the  most  impressive  sight  is  a  large  colliery 
fully  engaged  at  nightwork,  with  burning  crates  of  coal 
suspended  all  around ;  and  after  this  a  view  from  some  neigh- 
bouring eminence  of  all  the  far-flaming  waste  coal-heaps, 
burning  up  the  accumulation  of  waste  and  small  coal 
not  worth  carriage,  ever  added  to  the  ever-consuming 
mound,  until  the  whole  district  appears  like  the  active  crater 
of  some  enormous  volcano.'  * 

The  banks  of  the  Tyne  are  in  many  places  very  high  and 
precipitous,  and  consequently  render  peculiar  contrivances 
necessary  for  the  shipping  of  the  coals.  The  means  used 
for  this  purpose  are  various  :  sometimes  inclined  tunnels, 
through  which  the  train  of  waggons  is  lowered  in  chains  to 
the  water ;  sometimes  slopes,  along  which  the  coals  are 
shovelled   into    the    ship,    or    still    better,    the    ingenious 

*  '  Edinburgh  Review,'  vol.  cxi.  p.  86. 


412 


THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


mechanism  of  which  William  Howitt  gives  us  the  following' 
description : — 

'  As  you  advance  over  the  plain  you  see  a  whole  train  of 
waggons  loaded  with  coal,  careering  by  themselves  without 
horse,  without  steam-engine,  without  man,  except  that  there 
sits  one  behind,  who,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  propel  these 
mad  waggons  on  their  way,  seems  labouring  hopelessly  by 
his  weight  to  detain  them. 

(  But  what  is  your  amazement  when  you  come  in  sight  of 
the  river  Tyne,  and  see  these  waggons  still  careering  on 
to  the  very  brink  of  the  water  ! — to  see  a  railway  carried 
from  the  high  bank,  and  supported  on  tall  piles,  horizontally, 


SHIPPING  COAL. 


above  the  surface  of  the  river,  and  to  some  distance  into  it, 
as  if  to  allow  those  vagabond  trains  of  waggons  to  run  right 
off,  and  dash  themselves  down  into  the  river ! 

6  There  they  go,  all  mad  together  !  Another  moment,  and 
they  will  shoot  over  the  end  of  the  lofty  railway,  and  go 
headlong  into  the  Tyne,  helter-skelter.  But  behold  !  these 
creatures  are  not  so  mad  as  you  imagine  them.  They  are 
instinct  with  sense ;  they  have  a  principle  of  self-preserva- 
tion, as  well  as  of  speed,  in  them.  See,  as  they  draw  near 
the  river  they  pause,  they  stop  !  one  by  one  they  detach 
themselves ;  and  as  one  devoted  waggon  runs  on,  like  a 
victim  given  up  for  the  salvation  of  the  rest,  to  perform  a 
wild  summersault  into  the  water  below,  what  do  we  see  ? 


ACTIVITY    OF    THE    COAL    TRADE.  413 

It  is  caught !  A  pair  of  gigantic  arms  separate  themselves 
from  the  end  of  the  railway.  They  catch  the  waggon,  they 
hold  it  suspended  in  the  air,  they  let  it  softly  and  gently 
descend — and  whither  ?  Into  the  water  ?  No  ;  we  see  now. 
that  a  ship  already  lies  below  the  end  of  the  railway.  The 
waggon  descends  to  it ;  a  man  standing  there  strikes  a  bolt, 
the  bottom  falls,  and  the  coals  which  it  contains  are  nicely 
deposited  in  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  Up,  again,  soars  the 
empty  waggon  in  that  pair  of  gigantic  arms.  It  reaches  the 
railway ;  it  glides  like  a  black  swan  into  its  native  lake  upon 
it ;  and  away  it  goes,  as  of  its  own  accord,  to  a  distance,  to 
await  its  brethren,  who  successively  perform  the  same  ex- 
ploit, and  then  joining  it,  all  scamper  back  again  as  hard  as 
they  can  over  the  plain  to  the  distant  pit.' 

The  produce  of  the  collieries  situated  further  up  the  Tyne, 
where  the  river  is  no  longer  navigable  by  sea- going  craft,  is 
conveyed  in  a  kind  of  oval  vessels,  called  keels,  to  the  port 
of  Newcastle,  or  its  out-stations,  North  and  South  Shields, 
where  it  is  discharged  into  larger  ships. 

Newcastle  may  well  be  called  the  capital  of  King  Coal. 
Once  a  town  of  military  importance,  as  the  old,  grim-looking 
donjon-keep  of  Eobert  Curthose,  the  son  of  the  Conqueror, 
still  testifies,  it  entirely  owes  its  modern  importance  to  the 
treasures  of  coal  adjacent  to  its  walls.  Its  quays,  black  and 
sooty  as  the  mineral  on  which  its  prosperity  is  founded,  are 
lined  with  a  dense  row  of  counting-houses,  and  before  them 
in  the  river  still  denser  rows  of  colliers  lie  at  anchor ;  while 
between  both  ebbs  and  flows  a  black -looking  crowd — for  all 
here  wear  the  livery  of  the  article  to  which  all  owe  their 
bread.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  vast  activity  waving 
to  and  fro  in  this  chief  artery  of  the  coal  trade,  from  the 
fact  that  the  annual  arrivals  in  the  Tyne  are  not  less  than 
13,000  or  14,000,  10,000  of  which  are  on  account  of  the 
coal  trade. 

Sunderland,  the  great  port  of  the  river  Wear,  where 
annually  more  than  10,000  cargoes  of  coal  are  shipped  to  all 
ports  of  the  world  ;  Hartlepool,  a  town  of  modern  date  with 
magnificent  docks;  Stockton-on-Tees,  and  a  number  of 
minor  places  of  shipment  on  the  coast,  likewise  owe  their 
prosperity  to  coal,  so  that  probably  no  other  article  of  trade 


414  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

gives  constant  employment  to  so  many  vessels  within  so 
confined  a  territory. 

From  Tynemouth  Priory,  a  rnin  romantically  situated  on 
.  a  bold  promontory,  the  visitor  frequently  enjoys  a  magnifi- 
cent marine  picture  ;  for  when,  after  long-continued  easterly 
gales,  the  wind  changes  to  a  westerly  breeze,  many  hundred 
vessels — mostly  colliers — put  to  sea  together  in  a  single  tide, 
and  distribute  themselves  over  the  ocean  with  their  prows 
turned  in  almost  every  direction,  some  southward  and  coast- 
wise, for  English  ports,  for  the  Channel,  and  for  the  southern 
countries  of  Europe  ;  others,  northward  for  Scotland  and  the 
Norwegian  coast ;  and  others,  again,  due  east,  for  Denmark 
and  the  Baltic — all  sinking  deep  in  the  water,  weighed  down 
by  that  mineral  fuel  which  is  more  valuable  for  England 
than  if  it  were  replaced  by  the  mines  of  Mexico  or  the  dig- 
gings of  Australia. 

Yet  a  few  years,  and  probably  the  dingy  and  crawling 
craft,  which  perform  the  chief  part  in  this  animated  scene, 
will  be  abolished.  Clipper  screw  steamers  are  rapidly  taking 
their  place,  and  the  railroads  daily  transport  a  greater  pro- 
portion of  the  seven  or  eight  million  tons  of  coal  which 
are  annually  devoured  by  our  huge  metropolis. 

Before  quitting  the  Northern  coal  districts,  a  few  words 
may  be  added  on  the  swarthy  population  whose  labours 
bring  their  subterranean  riches  to  the  light.  The  chief 
underground  workmen  are  the  hewers,  who  either  remove 
the  coal  with  pickaxes,  or  sometimes  blast  it  with  powder. 
To  hew  well  is  a  work  of  skill  as  well  as  of  strength,  and 
men  must  be  early  practised  in  it  to  earn  high  wages  by 
piece-work.  In  tolerably  thick  seams  of  coal  of  five  and  six 
feet  and  upwards,  hewing  is  more  a  w^ork  of  strength  than 
skill ;  but  in  the  narrower  seams  skill  predominates.  In 
these  the  arm  is  confined,  the  blow  is  shortened,  the  pick 
is  impeded.  To  gain  space  by  adaptation  of  position,  you 
may  see  one  hewer  kneeling  down  on  one  or  both  knees, 
another  squatting,  another  stooping  or  bending  double,  and 
occasionally  one  or  more  lying  on  their  sides  or  on  their 
backs,  picking  and  pegging  away  at  the  seam  above  them. 
If  the  seam  be  hard  as  well  as  thin,  and  the  man's  position 
confined,  it  is  manifest  that  he   cannot  get  his   strength  to 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   MINERS.  415 

bear  in  full,  or  his  full  measure  of  coals.  In  such  cases  he 
is  bathed  in  perspiration,  in  a  state  of  semi-nudity,  enveloped 
in  floating  and  clinging  coal-dust.  If  to  this  we  add  the 
very  faint  light  imparted  by  the  Davy  lamps,  the  constantly 
thickening  atmosphere,  the  exhalations  from  living  beings, 
exaggerated  by  heat,  and  not  diminished  by  any  free  current 
of  air,  and  remember  that  eight  hours  is  the  usual  day's 
work  of  the  hewer,  we  must  surely  confess  that  few  men 
have  their  strength  more  hardly  tasked,  or  earn  their  bread 
in  a  more  laborious  manner. 


To  relieve  this  arduous  toil,  coal-cutting  machines  have 
lately  been  devised,  which  are  worked  either  by  steam  or  by 
compressed  air,  and  will  probably  in  time  perform  a  great 
part  of  the  hewer's  labour,  as  those  already  in  employment 
appear  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
contrived,  and  further  improvements  in  their  construction 
will  no  doubt  be  introduced.  Coal-cutting  machines,  which 
act  either  by  picking  or  gouging,  have  been  found  to  work 
more  economically  than  manual  labour,  while  at  the  same 
time  much  less  coal  is  destroyed  and  reduced  to  slack.  A 
matter  of  still  more  importance  is  the  diminished  risk  to 
the  persons  and  lives  of  the  emplo}ed,  who,  when  working  in 


416  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

a  constrained  position,  and  consequently  unable  to  relieve 
themselves  from  the  fall  of  a  superincumbent  mass  of  coal, 
are  frequently  crushed  to  death.  The  application  of 
machinery  to  cutting  coal  gives  another  advantage  of 
national  importance,  as,  by  enabling  the  working  to  be 
carried  into  the  deeper  seams  of  coal  which  lie  at  so  high  a 
temperature  as  to  present  serious  or  insurmountable  diffi- 
culty to  handwork,  it  will  render  available  to  posterity  new 
and  hitherto  inaccessible  stores  of  coal. 

The  hewers  may  possibly  fear  to  be  thrown  out  of  employ- 
ment by  its  introduction  on  an  extensive  scale  ;  but  as  it  will 
relieve  them  from  their  most  irksome  drudgery,  and  allow 
them  to  reserve  their  strength  for  less  injurious  trial,  they 
cannot  but  be  thankful  for  the  aid  which  it  affords  them. 

They  are  usually  paid  according  to  the  number  of  baskets 
or  tubs  they  are  able  to  fill.  These  are  then  conveyed  by 
the  putters  through  the  smaller  or  lower  galleries  of  the  pit 
to  the  headways,  where  they  are  hoisted  by  the  crow-men 
upon  the  rolleys  or  waggons  for  transporting  the  coals  from 
the  crow  to  the  shaft.  The  roads  along  which  the  rolleys 
are  driven  are  made  sufficiently  high  for  an  ordinary  horse 
by  cutting  away  the  roof  or  the  floor.  Some  of  them  are 
two  miles  long,  and  are  kept  in  repair  by  a  rolley-wayman. 
Where  tubs  are  used  for  the  conveyance  of  coal  the  whole 
way,  no  crow  is  necessary,  but  a  lad,  termed  a  *  natulan,'  who 
links  the  tubs  together  at  the  level  or  the  flat. 

Next  to  the  hewers,  the  putters  are  the  hardest  labourers 
in  the  pit ;  and  in  some  places  their  labour  is  even  harder, 
for  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  push  corfs  or  tubs,  weighing  from 
six  to  ten  hundredweight,  along  galleries  which  are  often 
but  three  or  four  feet  high,  where  the  heat  not  seldom 
averages  about  78°  Fahr.,  and  in  consequence  of  the  in- 
creased pressure  of  the  air,  water  boils  at  220°.  The  term 
'  putter '  includes  the  specific  distinctions  of  the  '  headsman,' 
'  half-marrow,'  and  the  6  foal.'  Where  full  tubs  or  baskets 
are  to  be  pushed  along  the  rails  from  the  hewers  to  the  crow 
and  the  rolley-drivers,  the  headsmen  take  the  chief  part ;  a 
half-marrow  goes  at  each  end  of  the  train  alternately  with 
another  half-marrow ;  while  a  foal  always  precedes  the  train. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  the  c  onsetters  '  are  stationed,  who 


EMPLOYMENTS   IX    MIXES.  417 

attach  the  tubs  to  the  ropes  which  hoist  them  to  the  surface. 
Besides  these  various  classes  of  workmen,  we  find  the 
*  shifters/  who  keep  the  galleries  in  repair,  and  the  little 
'  trapper-boys,'  whose  duty  it  is  to  open  the  ventilating-doors 
whenever  they  hear  the  drivers  or  trains  of  coal- waggons 
coming  on  one  side  or  the  other.  Their  task,  though  humble, 
tedious,  and  requiring  the  least  amount  of  intelligence,  is 
of  great  importance,  as  the  numerous  doors  which  they 
guard  must  remain  open  only  long  enough  for  the  passage  of 
the  trains,  and  must  then  be  closed  again  immediately,  or 
the  current  of  air  needed  to  ventilate  the  mine  would  be 
diverted  in  its  course.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a 
more  joyless  childhood  than  that  of  these  little  fellows,  con- 
demned to  sit  in  solitary  gloom  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  day,  and  only  comforted  by  the  sudden  shout  or  song  of 
a  team- driver,  approaching  with  his  train  of  waggons,  and 
demanding  the  opening  of  the  door. 

Besides  the  workers  underground,  a  number  of  labourers 
or  artisans  are  constantly  employed  above  pit,  from  the 
'  banksmen,'  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  all  things  living  and 
lifeless  up  and  down  the  shaft,  to  the  *  staithmen,'  who 
attend  to  the  staith  or  shipping  place  of  coals.  Many  find 
constant  occupation  in.  the  raff-yard,  where  old  waggons, 
ironwork,  and  woodwork  are  duly  hospitalled  and  refitted 
for  fresh  duty. 

The  daily  work  of  the  mine  is  conducted  according  to  the 
strictest  discipline.  The  c  resident  viewer '  is  supreme,  and 
has  subordinate  viewers,  overseers,  and  wastemen,  lamp- 
keepers,  and  other  officers,  who  have  each  their  departments, 
and  discharge  their  duties  assiduously. 

Thus  a  first-rate  northern  colliery  establishment — where  a 
total  of  more  than  five  hundred  persons  are  variously  employed 
— resembles  a  little  community  in  itself.  Men  of  all  educa- 
tions, arts,  grades,  and  duties,  and  males  of  almost  all  ages, 
from  ten  years,  are  here  ;  men,  too,  of  all  appearances — from 
the  gentlemanly  viewer  to  the  doubtful  wasteman,  and  from 
the  underground  workers-in-chief — the  hewers — to  the 
humble  trapper-boys. 

The  peculiar  nature  of  his  underground  occupations, 
which  condemns  the  pitman,  while  working,  to  a  position  of 

E  E 


418  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

great  restraint,  and  taxes  the  limbs  and  muscles  in  a  very 
unequal  manner,  naturally  influences  his  outward  appear- 
ance, so  that  he  can  be  easily  distinguished  from  every  other 
operative. 

His  stature  is  diminutive,  his  figure  disproportioned  and 
misshapen ;  his  legs  being  much  bowed,  and  his  chest  pro- 
truding like  that  of  a  pigeon.  His  arms  are  long,  and  oddly 
suspended.  His  countenance  is  not  less  strange  than  his 
figure,  his  cheeks  being  generally  hollow,  his  brow  over- 
hanging, his  cheekbones  high,  his  forehead  low  and  re- 
treating, his  complexion  pallid.  Many  of  these  bodily 
peculiarities  or  malformations  are  probably  hereditary. 
Pitmen  have  always  lived  in  communities ;  they  have  asso- 
ciated only  among  themselves,  and  have  thus  acquired 
peculiar  habits  and  ideas.  They  almost  invariably  inter- 
marry, and  it  is  not  uncommon  in  their  marriages  to 
commingle  the  blood  of  the  same  family.  They  have  thus 
transmitted  natural  and  accidental  defects  through  a  long 
series  of  generations,  and  may  now  be  regarded  in  the  light 
of  a  distinct  race  of  beings.  In  spite  of  the  general  march 
of  intelligence,  their  education  is  still  very  imperfect,  and 
they  are  just  emerging  from  the  greatest  possible  moral  and 
intellectual  darkness — an  improvement  due  mainly  to  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists.  The  untiring  labours  of  this  re- 
ligious sect  not  only  imparted  to  the  colliery  population  in 
the  North  of  England  a  higher  tone  of  moral  feeling,  but  in 
their  efforts  to  instil  religious  principles  into  their  minds, 
afforded  them,  through  Sunday-schools,  a  slight  amount  of 
education  and  an  imperfect  capability  of  reading.  These 
first  seeds  of  improvement  will,  it  is  hoped,  gradually  ripen 
into  fruit,  and  oppose  a  strong  barrier  to  the  prominent 
vices  of  colliers — gambling  and  intemperance. 

A  lack  of  mental  and  personal  openness  and  boldness,  a 
great  inclination  to  injury  and  theft,  the  grossest  supersti- 
tion, and  a  want  of  the  commonest  economy  and  forethought, 
are  likewise  faults  which  are  said  to  be  very  common  among 
them.  Deception  is  so  much  a  practice  with  them  that  they 
deceive  when  no  earthly  advantage  can  be  obtained  from 
their  dishonesty. 

On  the  other  hand,   the  proofs  of  filial    affection  which 


HISTORY    OF    THE    USE    OF    COAL.  419 

they  exhibit,  and  the  noble  feelings  and  heroism  which  they 
display  when  explosions  or  accidents  take  place,  prove  that 
the  groundwork  of  their  character  is  good,  and  merely  re- 
quires the  influence  of  a  better  education  to  remove  a  great 
part  of  the  blemishes  which  ignorance  has  engrafted  upon 
an  originally  wholesome  stock.  Under  every  disadvantage, 
several  eminent  men  have  sprung  from  their  class.  Thomas 
Bewick,  the  celebrated  wood-engraver,  was  early  immured  in 
pits;  the  late  celebrated  mathematician,  Dr.  Hutton,  was 
originally  a  hewer  of  coal;  Professor  Hann,  of  King's 
College,  in  London,  was  a  boy  working  underground  in  a 
northern  colliery ;  and  George  Stephenson,  the  illustrious 
engineer  whose  wonderful  inventions  have  revolutionised 
the  world,  and  who,  after  the  lapse  of  many  ages,  will  still 
be  reckoned  among  England's  most  illustrious  sons,  began 
life  as  a  trapper. 

Though  the  use  of  coal  was  already  known  to  the  ancient 
Britons,  yet  the  first  public  notice  of  the  mineral  is  men- 
tioned by  Hume  to  have  been  in  the  time  of  Henry  III., 
who,  in  the  year  1272,  granted  a  licence  to  dig  coals  to  the 
town  of  Newcastle.  Somewhat  later  in  1291,  the  abbot  and 
monastery  of  Dunfermline  in  Scotland  obtained  a  similar  grant. 
The  first  coal  is  said  to  have  been  brought  to  London  about  the 
year  1305,  where  it  was  used  only  by  smiths,  dyers,  and 
soap-boilers.  The  smoke,  which  was  supposed  to  be  injurious 
to  health,  caused  great  annoyance  to  the  wealthier  inhabi- 
tants of  the  city,  so  that  in  1316  its  use  was  prohibited  by  a 
decree  of  Edward  I.  This  ordinance  seems,  however,  to 
have  been  but  little  attended  to ;  for  a  few  years  later  in- 
spectors were  named  to  levy  fines  in  case  of  its  non-observ- 
ance, and  if  these  proved  ineffectual,  to  demolish  the  fire- 
places arranged  for  the  burning  of  coal.  The  complaints 
against  this  fuel  continued  several  centuries,  for  as  late  as 
1661  King  Charles  II.  was  prayed  to  remedy  the  nuisance 
by  banishing  from  town  manufacturers  who  required  large 
quantities  of  coal. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  the  interdictions,  complaints,  and 
prejudices  arrayed  against  it,  coal  continued  to  grow  in  use ; 
for  as  early  as  1615,  Newcastle  gave  employment  to  about 
four  hundred  vessels,  one-half  of  which  number  supplied  the 


420  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

demands  of  London.  French  ships  even  then  fetched  coals 
in  that  port,  and  the  Hanse  towns  conveyed  them  to 
Flanders. 

About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  coal 
trade,  notwithstanding  an  increase  of  price,  required  nine 
hundred  vessels ;  and  fifty  years  later,  half  a  million  of  tons 
were  exported  from  Newcastle,  requiring  fourteen  hundred 
vessels  for  their  carriage.  During  the  eighteenth  century 
the  northern  coal  trade  constantly  increased  with  the  steady 
growth  of  London,  which  in  1770,  although  not  possessing 
one- sixth  of  its  present  population,  already  consumed  seven 
hundred  thousand  tons ;  and  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  the  collieries  to  satisfy  the  constantly  growing  demand 
if  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine  had  not  lent  its  power- 
ful aid  to  raise  larger  quantities  of  coal  from  a  greater  depth, 
and  to  drain  many  works  which  otherwise  would  have  been 
deluged  with  water. 

The  other  English  coal-fields  began  to  be  worked  at  a 
much  later  period  than  that  of  Newcastle,  but  rapidly  grew 
in  importance  with  the  vast  increase  of  our  manufactories 
and  smelting  furnaces. 

The  extraction  of  coal  is  indeed  constantly  increasing 
at  a  truly  gigantic  rate.  Thus,  in  1845  our  whole  annual 
production  was  rated  at  thirty-five  millions  of  tons  ;  in  1859 
it  amounted,  according  to  trustworthy  returns,  to  sixty- 
eight  millions  ;  in  1865  it  had  advanced  to  ninety-six 
million  tons  ;  and  now  probably  exceeds  one  hundred  million 
tons  —  a  mass  so  enormous  that  with  it  a  girdle  of  coal  three 
feet  wide,  and  about  seven  high,  might  be  put  round  the 
earth. 

The  question  of  the  duration  of  our  coal-fields  is  evidently 
one  of  great  national  interest.  It  has  of  late  excited  the 
attention  both  of  statesmen  and  philosophers,  but  unfortu- 
nately it  is  more  easily  put  than  answered.  While  some 
authorities  give  us  the  cheering  assurance  that  we  have 
enough  to  last  us  for  the  next  two  thousand  years  at  least, 
others  limit  our  supply  to  three  or  four  centuries,  or  assign 
even  a  couple  of  hundred  years  as  the  period  when  our 
descendants  will  have  to  seek  their  coals  in  the  mines  of 
other  countries.     The  quantity  of  fuel  left  in  the  Newcastle 


QUESTION   OF    COAL   SUPPLY.  421 

basin — the  most  anciently  worked  of  our  coal-fields — was 
estimated  by  Mr.  Hall,  in  1854,  at  5,121,888,956  tons. 
Dividing  this  total  by  20,000,000  of  tons  as  the  present 
annual  consumption,  the  future  supplies  of  this  famous  coal- 
field would  thus  be  limited  to  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years — a  very  short  period  in  the  history  of  a  nation.  The 
immense  consumption  of  coal  in  the  iron  furnaces  and 
foundries  of  Staffordshire  will  probably  lead  to  an  ex- 
haustion of  that  coal-field  even  before  Northumberland  and 
Durham,  for  its  area  is  scarcely  more  than  one-half  of  the 
area  of  the  Northern  Coal-field.  It  has,  indeed,  one  very 
thick  seam  of  coal  of  from  thirty  to  forty  feet,  but  this  will 
not  alone  compensate  the  difference.  The  coal-fields  of 
Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  and  Derbyshire,  situated  amongst 
the  numerous  iron-works  and  manufactories,  as  well  as  large 
populations,  justify  a  similar  prophecy;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  better  prospects  are  held  out  by  the  great  coal-field  of 
South  Wales. 

After  deducting  the  coal  practically  unattainable  from  its 
depth,  sixty  thousand  millions  of  tons  may  be  considered  a 
liberal  estimate  of  the  available  mass.  At  the  present  rate 
of  extraction  (ten  millions  of  tons)  this  would  give  a  supply 
for  the  next  six  thousand  years ;  but  supposing  the  other 
sources  to  fail,  the  extraction  of  coal  from  the  South  Wales 
basin  would  of  course  be  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
limit  its  duration  to  six  or  seven  centuries.  It  may  be 
remarked  that  the  largest  estimates  of  future  coal  supply 
are  based  on  the  assumption  that  mines  may  be  worked  at 
a  depth  of  four  or  five  thousand  feet ;  but  this  is  very  pro- 
blematical. Mechanical  skill  may  indeed  pierce  shafts  to 
this  depth,  or  even  deeper ;  but  the  increase  of  temperature 
which  is  raised  by  one  degree  for  about  every  successive 
seventy  feet,  along  with  the  increasing  density  of  the  air, 
must  ever  oppose  insuperable  obstacles  to  human  labour  at 
such  a  distance  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  To  the  natural 
heat  and  density  arising  from  depth  must  be  added  the 
corruptions  arising  from  human  perspiration,  which  are 
constantly  on  the  increase  during  working  hours  in  working 
places.     '  We  speak,'  says  the  author  of  an  excellent  article 


422  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

in  the  Quarterly  Review*  'from  some  brief  personal 
experience  of  what  these  things  are  at  a  depth  of  nearly 
eighteen  hundred  feet,  where  the  actual  temperature  varied 
from  eighty-five  to  eighty-six  and  a  half  degrees.  Such 
experience  is  necessary  to  qualify  any  man  to  judge  of  the 
vertical  limit  of  human  labour,  and  we  hesitate  to  fix  it  at 
more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  and  should  fix  it 
at  that  depth  only  for  the  hardiest  of  hewers  and  haulers 
of  coal.' 

The  pressure  of  superincumbent  strata,  which  renders  the 
upholding  of  the  roof,  even  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred 
feet,  a  problem  of  ceaseless  anxiety  and  expense,  must  also 
be  taken  into  account.  At  depths  much  exceeding  two 
thousand  feet,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  roofs  could  be  securely 
upheld  except  at  such  an  outlay  as  would  considerably  raise 
the  cost  of  extraction,  while  the  coal  itself  would  be  more 
and  more  dense,  and  therefore  more  and  more  difficult  to 
dislodge.  For  these  various  reasons,  all  the  strata  of  coal 
situated  below  the  depth  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet, 
or  at  the  very  utmost  three  thousand  feet,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  practically  unworkable;  and  thus  sober-minded 
calculators,  on  comparing  the  available  solid  contents  of  our 
coal-fields  with  the  rate  of  extraction,  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  thousand  years  is  the  maximum  of  the  pro- 
bable future  supply  of  England  and  Wales.  Adding  to  this 
the  Scotch  and  Irish  coal,  which  are  not  included  in  the 
estimate,  and  swelling  our  account  with  lignite  and  peat,  we 
have  at  any  rate  sufficient  materials  for  keeping  our  fires 
burning  for  a  good  time  to  come,  and  may  safely  leave  all 
desponding  views  on  the  subject  to  distant  generations. 

Next  to  England,  no  European  country  has  so  rapidly 
increased  its  coal  production  as  the  German  empire,  where, 
thanks  to  the  railroads,  the  consumption  of  mineral  fuel 
is  yearly  extending  over  a  wider  range,  and  gradually 
supplanting  in  many  localities  the  use  of  wood.  The 
official  tables  inform  us  that  in  1866,  432,594,926  cwt.  of 
black  coal,  and  130,661,182  cwt.  of  lignite — together,  about 
28  million  tons — were  produced,  a  mass  considerably  greater 
than  the  joint  production  of  France  and  Belgium,  and  equal 

*  Volume  ex. 


THE    COAL    TRADE.  423 

to  about  seven  twenty-fifths  of  the  production  of  England. 
The  chief  coal-fields  are  those  of  Upper  Silesia,  of  the  Ruhr, 
of  the  Saar,  of  Waldenburg  (in  Lower  Silesia),  of  Dresden 
and  Zwickau  (in  Saxony),  of  Aachen  (Aix-la-Chapelle),  Ibben- 
buren,  and  Minden,  which  not  only  supply  the  greater  part 
of  Germany,  but  also  yield  a  considerable  exportation  to 
France,  Switzerland,  and  Holland. 

The  German  ports  on  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic 
still  largely  consume  British  coal,  which,  however,  has 
been  entirely  driven  from  the  Rhine ;  and  Berlin,  which  in 
1860  burnt  202,970  tons  of  English  coal,  consumed  little 
more  than  one-half  that  quantity  (123,401  tons)  in  1865,  in 
spite  of  a  considerable  increase  of  population ;  while  at  the 
same  time  the  consumption  of  coal  from  Upper  Silesia 
increased  from  61,700  to  323,712  tons. 

The  small  but  thriving  kingdom  of  Belgium,  where  the 
collieries  of  Liege,  Namur,  and  Hainaut  give  rise  to  a  com- 
mercial activity  unequalled  on  the  Continent,  occupies  the 
third  rank  among  the  coal  countries  of  Europe,  its  pro- 
duction in  1863  having  amounted  to  10,500,000  tons. 
The  provinces  of  Namur  and  Liege  consume  almost  all 
the  coal  they  produce,  while  Mons  and  Charleroi,  in  Hainaut, 
export  more  than  three  millions  of  tons  to  France. 

This  country,  which,  in  1862,  produced  9,400,000  tons  of 
coal,  requires  at  least  16,000,000  for  its  consumption,  and 
imports  the  difference  from  Belgium,  England,  and  Germany. 
The  chief  coal-basins  are  situated  in  the  departments  of  the 
Loire,  du  Nord,  Saone-et-Loire,  and  Gard,  which  furnish 
about  seven-eighths  of  the  whole  production.  Austria, 
whose  principal  coal  mines  are  situated  in  Bohemia,  pro- 
duces about  3,500,000  tons.  Spain  possesses  magnificent 
coal-fields  in  the  Asturias  and  Santanders,  but  as  yet  they 
have  been  but  little  worked. 

Besides  the  coal-basins  of  the  mother  country,  Britain  is 
richly  provided  with  coals  in  many  of  her  colonies.  In  New 
South  Wales  and  Tasmania,  in  Labuan  and  Farther  India, 
in  Hindostan  and  New  Zealand,  in  British  Columbia  and 
Honduras,  valuable  basins  or  seams  of  coal  have  been 
discovered;  and  a  magnificent  coal-field,  far  surpassing 
in  magnitude  those  of  the  British  Islands,   extends  from 


424  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Newfoundland,  by  Cape  Breton,  Prince  Edward  Island, 
and  Nova  Scotia,  across  a  large  portion  of  New  Brunswick. 
Thus  far  it  has  been  but  little  worked,  in  countries  but 
thinly  peopled,  and  covered  for  the  most  part  with  boundless 
forests  ;  but  as  from  its  general  proximity  to  the  sea  it  offers 
every  advantage  for  mining  operations,  a  brilliant  future 
may  safely  be  predicted  for  the  lands  it  underlies. 

The  coal-fields  of  the  United  States  are  of  still  more  ample 
proportions,  as  they  surpass  in  extent  all  the  known  coal- 
basins  of  the  world  besides.  Beyond  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains we  find  the  magnificent  Appalachian  Coal-field,  tra- 
versing eight  of  the  principal  States  in  the  American  Union, 
from  the  northern  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  to  Alabama,  and 
covering  a  space  of  about  sixty-five  thousand  square  miles. 

Of  scarcely  inferior  extent  are  the  vast  coal-fields  of 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Kentucky,  which  nearly  equal  in  mag- 
nitude the  whole  of  England  ;  and  another  smaller  but  highly 
important  coal  region  is  situated  between  the  lakes  Erie, 
Huron,  and  Michigan,  not  to  mention  the  minor  coal-basins 
scattered  here  and  there  from  Texas  to  Missouri,  and  from 
New  York  to  Maine. 

As  yet,  the  Americans  have  not  derived  full  benefit  from 
their  extraordinary  coal  deposits;  but  the  possession  of 
so  vast  an  accumulation  of  power  allows  us  to  predict  a 
future  of  almost  boundless  enterprise  and  production  for  that 
wonderful  country. 

While  in  most  of  our  coal-seams  deep  shafts  have  to  be  sunk 
to  obtain  the  coal,  and  steam  power  has  to  be  constantly 
employed  to  prevent  its  submersion,  the  Appalachian  Coal- 
field is  intersected  by  three  great  navigable  rivers,  the 
Monongahela,  the  Alleghany,  and  the  Ohio,  all  of  which  lay 
open  on  their  banks  the  level  seams  of  coal.  At  Brownhill, 
on  the  first  of  these  rivers,  the  main  seam  of  bituminous  coal, 
ten  feet  thick,  breaks  out  in  the  steep  cliff  at  the  water's 
edge.  Horizontal  galleries  may  be  driven  everywhere  at  very 
slight  expense,  and  so  worked  as  to  drain  themselves,  while 
the  cars  laden  with  coal,  and  attached  to  each  other,  glide 
down  on  a  railway  so  as  to  deliver  their  burden  into  barges 
moored  to  the  river's  bank.  The  same  seam  may  be  followed 
the   whole   way  to   Pittsburg,  fifty  miles    distant.      Being 


AMERICAN   COAL-FIELDS.  425 

nearly  horizontal,  it  crops  out,  as  the  river  descends,  at  a 
continually  increasing,  but  never  at  an  inconvenient,  height 
above  the  Monongahela.  Besides  this  main  seam,  another 
layer  of  workable  coal,  six  feet  thick,  breaks  out  on  the  slope 
of  the  hills  at  a  greater  height.  Here  almost  every  pro- 
prietor can  open  a  coal  pit  on  his  own  land,  and  the  strati- 
fication being  very  regular,  he  may  calculate  with  precision 
the  depth  at  which  coal  may  be  won. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  collieries  in  the  world  is  that 
of  Maunch  Chunk  (or  the  Bear  Mountain)  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  an  enormous  bed  of  anthracitic  coal,  nearly  sixty  feet 
thick,  and  probably  caused  by  the  doubling  back  of  a  twenty- 
eight  feet  seam  upon  itself,  is  quarried  in  the  open  air; 
the  overlying  sandstone,  forty  feet  thick,  having  been  re- 
moved bodily  from  the  top  of  the  hill,  which,  to  use  the 
miners'  expression,  has  been  *  scalped.' 


426  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 


CHAPTEE   XXXIII. 

BITUMINOUS    SUBSTANCES. 

Formation  of  Petroleum — Enormous  Production  of  the  Pennsylvanian  Wells — 
Asphalte  used  by  the  Ancients — Asphalte  Pavements — The  Pitch  Lake  of 
Trinidad — Jet — Its  Manufacture  in  Whitby. 

THE  class  of  bituminous  minerals  exhibits  a  long  series  of 
inflammable  substances,  which  are  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  the  decomposition  of  organic  matter  in  the  rocks  con- 
taining them.  Some  (Petroleum — Rock-naphtha)  issue  in  a 
fluid  state  from  the  earth,  while  others  pass  by  insensible 
gradations  from  petroleum  into  pittasphalte  or  maltha  (viscid 
bitumen),  and  the  latter  as  insensibly  into  the  solid  form  of 
asphalte.  Certain  bitumens,  again,  differ  but  slightly  in  com- 
position from  bituminous  coals,  so  that  it  is,  in  reality,  very 
difficult  to  draw  a  decided  line  between  them.  Hence  it  is 
highly  probable  that  in  petroleum  we  see  the  product  of  a 
primeval  vegetation  which,  under  the  influence  of  chemical 
change  and  heat,  has  partly  assumed  a  liquid  form,  and 
oozing  from  the  deep-aeated  strata  in  which  it  was  confined 
by  terrestrial  revolution,  now  permeates  the  superficial  rocks, 
or  exists  collected  in  subterranean  cavities,  whence  it  issues 
in  jets  and  fountains  whenever  an  outlet  is  made  by  boring. 
Petroleum  springs  have  been  known  for  many  ages  in 
Burmah,  where  there  are  about  one  hundred  wells  from  one 
hundred  and  eighty  to  three  hundred  and  six  feet  deep,  each 
lined  with  horizontal  tubes,  but  not  all  now  worked  ;  at  Baku, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  holy  fires,  already  mentioned; 
near  the  village  of  Amiano,  in  Parma,  whence  enough  was  for- 
merly obtained  to  light  the  streets  of  Genoa ;  at  Zante,  one  of 
the  Ionian  islands,  which  has  furnished  oil  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years,  its  petroleum  spring  having  been  mentioned 


PETROLEUM   AND    ASPHALTE.  427 

by  Herodotus  ;  at  Agrigentum,  in  Sicily,  which,  according  to 
Pliny,  furnished  a  mineral  oil  that  was  collected  and  used  for 
burning  in  lamps ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Kuban,  and  many 
other  localities ;  but  it  is  only  since  the  discovery  of  the  im- 
mense sources  of  supply  in  the  north-eastern  States  of  Ame- 
rica and  in  Canada  that  petroleum  has  become  not  only  an 
article  of  the  greatest  commercial  importance,  but  a  blessing 
to  millions  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  gladdens  the  long 
winter  evenings  of  the  Icelandic  peasant,  and  enlivens  the  hut 
of  the  Australian  settler ;  it  has  found  its  way  into  the  re- 
motest glens  of  the  Alps,  and  to  the  distant  sea-ports  of 
China.  No  wonder  that  its  economical  and  cheerful  light 
has  caused  its  consumption  to  increase  with  a  rapidity  almost 
without  a  precedent  in  the  annals  of  commerce.  Though 
scarcely  ten  years  have  passed  since  the  American  wells 
first  began  to  pour  forth  their  streams  of  oil,  no  less  than 
670,000,000  gallons  were  exported  in  1866  from  the  ports 
of  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  One -third  of  this  enormous 
quantity  found  its  way  to  England ;  one-fifth  to  the  port  of 
Antwerp,  its  chief  staple  place  for  Western  Germany  and 
the  North  of  France ;  the  remainder  was  distributed  among 
all  the  sea-ports  of  the  world  from  Hamburg  to  Hong  Kong, 
and  from  the  Cape  to  Valparaiso.  When  we  reflect  that 
this  amazing  mass  of  liquid  bitumen,  which  formed  the  cargo 
of  no  less  than  seven  hundred  and  thirty-one  large  vessels, 
must  necessarily  be  increased  from  year  to  year  to  meet  a 
constantly  increasing  demand,  it  might  almost  be  feared 
that,  in  spite  of  the  prodigality  of  nature,  its  subterranean 
reservoirs  must  one  day  be  exhausted. 

Asphalte,  a  mineral  pitch  of  a  deep  black  colour  and  a  con- 
choidal  brilliant  fracture,  is  frequently  found  swimming  on  the 
surface  of  the  Lake  Asphaltites,  or  Dead  Sea,  in  Judsea,  which 
receives  its  name  from  the  circumstance.  It  also  occurs  in 
many  parts  of  Egypt,  where  it  was  used  for  embalming.  The 
ancients  also  frequently  employed  it,  combined  with  lime,  in 
their  buildings.  Not  only  do  we  find  the  ruined  walls  of 
temples  and  palaces  in  the  East  with  the  stones  cemented 
with  this  material,  but  some  of  the  old  Roman  castles  in 
this  country  are  found  to  hold  bitumen  in  the  cement  by 
which  their  stones  are  secured. 


428  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

c  It  is  a  remarkable  fact/  says  the  late  Dr.  Ure,  *  that  the 
substance  thus  employed  in  the  earliest  constructions  upon 
record,  should  for  so  many  thousand  years  have  fallen  well- 
nigh  into  disuse  among  civilised  nations  ;  for  there  is  certainly 
no  class  of  minerals  so  well  fitted  as  the  bituminous,  by  their 
plasticity,  fusibility,  tenacity,  adhesiveness  to  surfaces,  im- 
penetrability by  water,  and  unchangeableness  in  the  atmo- 
sphere, to  enter  into  the  composition  of  terraces,  foot  pave- 
ments, roofs,  and  every  kind  of  hydraulic  work.  Bitumen, 
combined  with  calcareous  earth,  forms  a  compact  semi-elastic 
solid,  which  is  not  liable  to  suffer  injury  by  the  greatest 
alternations  of  frost  and  thaw,  which  often  disintegrate  in  a 
few  years  the  hardest  stone,  nor  can  it  be  ground  to  dust 
and  worn  away  by  the  attrition  of  the  feet  of  men  and  animals, 
as  sandstone,  flags,  and  even  blocks  of  granite  are.  An 
asphalte  pavement  rightly  tempered  in  tenacity,  solidity,  and 
elasticity,  seems  to  be  incapable  of  suffering  abrasion  in  the 
most  crowded  thoroughfares  ;  a  fact  exemplified  of  late  in  a 
few  places  in  London,  bat  much  more  extensively  and  for  a 
much  longer  time  in  Paris.'  Many  of  the  asphalte  pavements 
made  in  England  have,  indeed,  proved  failures;  but  as  the 
proper  proportions  of  the  respective  ingredients  may  not  have 
been  maintained,  further  trials  are  advisable.  At  present, 
although  bitumen  is  employed,  and  with  seeming  advantage, 
as  a  cement  between  paving- stones,  its  use  in  the  formation 
of  foot  pavement  has  been  confined  within  narrow  limits. 

In  Europe,  the  most  extensive  mine  of  asphaltic  rock  is 
undoubtedly  that  of  the  Yal  de  Travers  in  the  canton  of  Neuf- 
chatel ;  but  the  most  remarkable  deposit  of  bitumen  in  the 
world  is  the  celebrated  Great  Pitch  Lake  in  the  island  of 
Trinidad.  With  regard  to  its  formation,  Sir  Charles  Lyell 
remarks  that  the  Orinoco,  which  discharges  its  vast  volume 
of  water  right  opposite  to  the  island,  has  for  ages  been  rolling 
down  great  quantities  of  woody  and  vegetable  bodies  into  the 
surrounding  sea,  where,  by  the  influence  of  currents  and 
eddies,  they  may  be  arrested  and  accumulated  in  particular 
places.  The  frequent  occurrence  of  earthquakes  and  other 
indications  of  volcanic  action  in  these  parts  lends  countenance 
to  the  opinion  that  these  vegetable  substances  may  have 
undergone,  by  the*  agency  of  subterranean  fire,  those  trans- 


PITCH-LAKE    OF   TRIXIDAD.  429 

formations  or  chemical  changes  which  produce  petroleum  ; 
and  this  may,  by  the  same  causes,  be  forced  up  to  the  surface, 
where,  by  exposure  to  the  air,  it  becomes  inspissated,  and 
forms  the  different  varieties  of  pure  and  earthy  pitch  or 
asphaltum  so  abundant  in  the  island.  The  Pitch  Lake  is 
a  mile  and  a  half  in  circumference  ;  the  bitumen  is  solid  and 
cold  near  the  shores,  but  gradually  increases  in  temperature 
and  softness  towards  the  centre,  where  it  is  boiling.  The 
solidified  bitumen  appears  as  if  it  had  cooled  as  the  surface 
boiled  in  large  bubbles.  The  ascent  from  the  lake  to  the  sea, 
a  distance  of  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  is  covered  with  a 
hardened  pitch,  on  which  trees  and  vegetables  flourish,  and 
the  best  pine-apples  in  the  West  Indies,  called  black  pines, 
grow  wild.  As  the  Trinidad  pitch  has  been  found  by 
chemical  analysis  to  be  an  excellent  material  for  the  making 
of  gas,  it  will  probably  become  an  important  article  of  com- 
merce.    The  wonder  is  that  it  has  been  so  long  neglected. 

Though  Jet  is  frequently  considered  to  be  wood  in  a  high 
state  of  bituminisation,  yet  the  fact  that  we  find  this  beau- 
tiful substance  surrounding  fossils,  and  casing  adventitious 
masses  of  stone,  seems  to  show  that  a  liquid,  or,  at  all  events, 
a  plastic  condition  must  at  one  time  have  prevailed  in  its 
formation.  This  opinion  is  further  strengthened  by  the 
circumstance  that  petroleum  strongly  impregnates  the  rock 
in  which  it  is  found,  giving  out  a  strong  odour  when  it  is 
exposed  to  the  air. 

Jet  occurs  chiefly  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Whitby  in 
Yorkshire,  the  estates  of  Lord  Mulgrave  being  especially 
productive.  The  jet  miner  searches  with  great  care  the 
slaty  rocks,  and  finding  the  jet  spread  out,  often  in  extreme 
thinness,  between  the  laminations  of  the  rock,  he  follows  it 
with  great  care,  and  is  frequently  rewarded  by  its  thickening 
out  to  two  or  three  inches. 

The  art  of  working  jet  is  of  very  ancient  date  in  this 
country,  for  the  Romans  certainly  employed  it  for  orna- 
mental purposes,  and  probably  found  it  in  use  among  the 
Britons  whom  they  conquered.  Lionel  Charlton,  in  the 
'  History  of  Whitby,'  says  that  in  one  of  the  Roman  tumuli, 
lying  close  to  the  jaw-bone,  he  found  the  earring  of  a  lady 
having  the  form  of  a  heart,  with,  a  hole  in  the  upper  end  for 


430  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

suspension  from  the  ear.  There  exists  no  doubt  that,  when 
the  Abbey  of  Whitby  was  the  seat  of  learning  and  the  resort 
of  pilgrims,  jet-rosaries  and  crosses  were  common.  The 
manufacture  was  carried  on  till  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  when 
it  seems  to  have  ceased  suddenly,  and  was  not  resumed  till 
the  year  1800,  when  Eobert  Jefferson,  a  painter,  and  John 
Carter  made  beads  and  crosses  with  files  and  knives.  A 
stranger  coming  to  Whitby,  and  seeing  them  working  in  this 
rude  way,  advised  them  to  try  to  turn  it ;  they  followed  his 
advice,  and  found  it  answer.  Several  more  then  joined  them, 
and  the  trade  has  been  gradually  increasing  since  ;  so  that  at 
present  the  total  annual  value  of  the  mourning  ornaments 
made  at  Whitby  and  Scarborough  amounts  to  no  less  than 
125,000?.  About  250  men  and  boys  are  employed  in  search- 
ing for  jet,  and  between  600  and  700  are  engaged  in  its 
manufacture. 


431 


CHAPTER  XXXIY. 

SALT. 

Geological  Position  of  Kock  Salt — Mines  of  Northwich — Their  immense  Excava- 
tions— Droitwich  and  Stoke — Wieliczka — Berchtesgaden  and  Eeichenhall — 
Admirable  Machinery — Stassfurt — Processes  employed  in  tho  Manufacture  of 
Salt — Origin  of  Eock-salt  Deposits. 

COMMON  salt  is  so  necessary  to  man,  and  of  such  vast 
importance  to  the  manufacturer  and  agriculturist,  that 
the  processes  by  which  it  is  obtained  are  justly  reckoned 
among  the  chief  branches  of  industry. 

In  many  of  the  warmer  countries  of  the  globe  it  is  procured 
simply  by  the  evaporation  of  sea-water  in  shallow  lagoons ; 
in  others,  it  gushes  forth  in  briny  springs,  or  occurs  in  in- 
land lakes,  pools,  and  marshes,  or  is  extracted  in  the  solid 
form  of  rock-salt  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth. 

The  geological  position  of  rock-salt  is  very  variable  ;  it  is 
found  in  all  sedimentary  formations,  and  is  generally  inter- 
stratified  with  gypsum,  and  associated  with  beds  of  clay.  In 
England  its  chief  deposits  occur  in  the  new  red  sandstone  in 
the  region  around  Northwich,  in  Cheshire.  They  consist  of 
two  beds,  which  are  not  less  than  one  hundred  feet  thick, 
and  are  supposed  to  constitute  large  insulated  masses  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  long  and  nearly  1,300  yards  broad.  The 
uppermost  bed  occurs  at  seventy-five  feet  beneath  the  surface, 
and  is  separated  from  the  lower  mass  by  layers  of  indurated 
clay,  thirty-one  and  a  half  feet  thick,  with  veins  of  rock-salt 
running  between  them.  Hitherto  only  the  lower  bed  has 
been  worked,  for  the  upper  deposits  are  of  inferior  purity. 
These  valuable  mines  were  accidentally  discovered  in  1670 
during  an  unsuccessful  sinking  for  coal ;  and  as  ever  since 
that  time  they  have  furnished  a  constantly  increasing  quan- 


432  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

tity  of  salt,  amounting  during  the  last  few  years  to  more  than 
800,000  tons,  the  vastness  of  the  excavations  may  easily 
be  imagined.  To  support  the  roof,  which  is  about  twenty 
feet  above  the  floor,  and  extends  in  some  cases  over  several 
acres,  huge  pillars  not  less  than  fifteen  feet  thick  have  been 
left  standing  at  irregular  intervals,  thus  forming  immense 
rows  of  galleries,  which  even  when  illuminated  by  thou- 
sands of  lights  are  lost  in  a  dim  and  endless  perspective, 
which  may  well  remind  the  spectator  of  the  fabled  Hall  of 
Eblis. 

As  the  salt  is  detached  from  the  rock  by  blasting,  the 
grandeur  of  the  scene  is  not  a  little  heightened  by  the  fre- 
quent explosions  re-echoing  through  the  spacious  vaults,  and 
booming  like  thunder  from  some  dark  and  distant  gallery. 
For  the  transport  of  the  salt  underground,  the  roomy  pas- 
sages are  traversed  in  every  direction  by  tram-roads,  on 
which  waggons  drawn  by  horses  easily  convey  it  from  the 
place  of  extraction  to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft.  The  chief 
part  of  the  Cheshire  salt  (both  fossil  and  rock)  manufactured 
is  sent  by  the  river  Weever  to  Liverpool.  As  it  is  rarely 
found  of  sufficient  purity  for  immediate  use,  it  is  first  dis- 
solved in  water,  and  afterwards  reduced  to  a  crystalline  state 
by  evaporating  the  solution.  The  necessary  coals  are  mostly 
brought  by  canal  from  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Helens,  and 
salt  taken  as  a  return  freight ;  so  that,  as  in  a  clock-work 
where  one  wheel  catches  into  another,  nothing  is  wanting  to 
render  its  manufacture  as  economical  as  possible. 

Among  the  mineral  treasures  which  nature  has  so  prodi- 
gally bestowed  upon  Great  Britain,  the  salt-mines  of  Cheshire 
hold  a  conspicuous  rank,  as  they  not  only  provide  chiefly  for 
our  own  vast  consumption,  but  also  for  that  of  many  other 
countries.  In  1864  the  salt  exports  amounted  to  596,063 
tons,  the  total  value  being  2 81, 443 1.  About  one-third  of  this 
immense  quantity  (183,097  tons)  found  its  way  to  the  British 
East  Indies,  72,201  tons  to  Russia,  and  86,208  tons  to  the 
United  States. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  Cheshire  mines  are  the  brine- 
pits  of  Droitwich  and  Stoke,  in  Worcestershire,  the  former 
of  which  are  said  to  have  been  worked  in  the  time  of  the 
Romans,  and  now  chiefly  supply  the  London  market.     In 


SALT    MINES   OF    WIELICZKA.  433 

1865  their  produce  amounted  to  185,000  tons,  of  which  about 
40,000  were  exported. 

At  Droitwich  the  borings  are  only  175  feet  deep,  and  so 
abundant  is  the  supply  of  brine  that,  if  the  pumps  cease 
working,  it  speedily  rises  to  within  nine  feet  of  the  surface, 
and  if  left  un  removed,  soon  overflows. 

The  most  renowned  salt-mines  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
are  undoubtedly  those  of  Wieliczka,  a  small  town  of  about 
6,000  inhabitants,  situated  to  the  south  of  Cracow,  in  a  fruitful 
valley  on  the  northern  borders  of  the  Carpathian  mountains. 
'  After  descending  210  feet,'  says  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor,  an 
American  traveller  who  visited  them  a  few  years  ago,  '  we 
saw  the  first  veins  of  rock-salt  in  a  bed  of  clay  and  crumbled 
sandstone.  Thirty  feet  more,  and  we  were  in  a  world  of 
salt.  Level  galleries  branched  off  from  the  foot  of  the  stair- 
case ;  overhead,  a  ceiling  of  solid  salt,  under  foot  a  floor  of 
salt,  and  on  either  side  gray  walls  of  salt,  sparkling  here  and 
there  with  minute  crystals.  Lights  glimmered  ahead,  and 
on  turning  a  corner  we  came  upon  a  gang  of  workmen,  some 
hacking  away  at  the  solid  floor,  others  trundling  wheel- 
barrows full  of  the  precious  cubes.  Here  was  the  chapel  of 
St.  Anthony — the  oldest  in  the  mines — a  Byzantine  excava- 
tion, supported  by  columns,  with  altar,  crucifix,  and  life-size 
statues  of  saints,  apparently  in  black  marble,  but  all  as  salt 
as  Lot's  wife,  as  I  discovered  by  putting  my  tongue  to  the 
nose  of  John  the  Baptist.  The  humid  air  of  this  upper  story 
of  the  mines  has  damaged  some  of  the  saints.  Francis, 
especially,  is  running  away  like  a  dip  candle,  and  all  of  his 
head  is  gone  except  his  chin.  The  limbs  of  Joseph  are 
dropping  off  as  if  he  had  the  Norwegian  leprosy,  and  Law- 
rence has  deeper  scars  than  his  gridiron  could  have  made, 
running  up  and  down  his  back.  A  Bengal  light,  burnt  at 
the  altar,  brought  into  sudden  life  this  strange  temple,  which 
presently  vanished  into  utter  darkness,  as  if  it  had  never  been. 

6 1  cannot  follow,  step  by  step,  our  journey  of  two  hours 
through  the  labyrinths  of  this  wonderful  mine.  It  is  a  be- 
wildering maze  of  galleries,  grand  halls,  staircases,  and 
vaulted  chambers,  where  one  soon  loses  all  sense  of  distance 
or  direction,  and  drifts  along  blindly  in  the  wake  of  his  con- 
ductor.    Everything  was  solid  salt  except  where  great  piers 

F  F 


434  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

of  hewn  logs  had  been  built  up  to  support  some  threatening 
roof,  or  vast  chasms,  left  in  quarrying,  had  been  bridged 
across.  As  we  descended  to  lower  regions,  the  air  became 
more  dry  and  agreeable,  and  the  saline  walls  more  pure  and 
brilliant.  One  hall,  108  feet  in  length,  resembled  a  Grecian 
theatre,  the  traces  of  blocks  taken  out  in  regular  layers 
representing  the  seats  for  the  spectators.  Out  of  this  single 
hall  1,000,000  cwt.  of  salt  had  been  taken,  or  enough  to 
supply  the  40,000,000  inhabitants  of  Austria  for  one  year. 

'  Two  obelisks  of  salt  commemorated  the  visit  of  Francis  I. 
and  his  Empress  in  another  spacious,  irregular  vault,  through 
which  we  passed  by  means  of  a  wooden  bridge,  resting  on 
piers  of  the  crystalline  rock.  After  we  had  descended  to  the 
bottom  of  this  chamber,  a  boy  ran  along  the  bridge  above 
with  a  burning  Bengal-light,  throwing  flashes  of  blue  lustre 
on  the  obelisks,  on  the  scarred  walls,  vast  arches,  the  en- 
trances to  deeper  halls,  and  the  far  roof,  fretted  with  the 
picks  of  the  workmen.  The  effect  was  truly  magical.  Pre- 
sently we  entered  another  and  loftier  chamber,  yawning 
downwards  like  the  mouth  of  hell,  with  cavernous  tunnels 
opening  out  of  the  further  end.  In  these  tunnels  the  work- 
men, half  naked,  with  torches  in  their  hands,  wild  cries, 
fireworks,  and  the  firing  of  guns  (which  here  so  reverberates 
in  the  imprisoned  air  that  one  can  feel  every  wave  of  sound), 
give  a  rough  representation  of  the  infernal  regions,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  crowned  heads  who  visit  the  mines.  A  little 
further,  we  struck  upon  a  lake  four  fathoms  deep,  upon  which 
we  embarked  in  a  heavy,  square  boat,  and  entered  a  gloomy 
tunnel,  over  the  entrance  of  which  was  inscribed  (in  salt 
letters)  "Good  luck  to  you! "  Midway  in  the  tunnel,  the  halls 
at  either  ends  were  suddenly  illuminated,  and  a  crash,  as  of 
a  hundred  cannon  bellowing  through  the  hollow  vaults, 
shook  the  air  and  water  in  such  wise  that  our  boat  had  not 
ceased  trembling  when  we  landed  in  the  further  hall.  A 
tablet  inscribed  "Heartily  welcome  !"  saluted  us  on  landing. 
Finally,  at  the  depth  of  450  feet,  our  journey  ceased,  although 
wre  were  but  half  way  to  the  bottom.  The  remainder  is  a 
wilderness  of  shafts,  galleries,  and  smaller  chambers,  the 
extent  of  which  we  could  only  conjecture.  We  then  returned 
through  scores  of  tortuous  passages  to  some  vaults,  where  a  lot 


PEOXIMITY   OF   FRESH   WATER   TO    SALT.  435 

of  gnomes,  naked  to  the  hips,  were  busy  with  pick,  mallet,  and 
wedge,  blocking  out  and  separating  the  solid  pavement.  The 
process  is  quite  primitive,  scarcely  differing  from  that  of  the 
ancient  Egyptians  in  quarrying  granite.  The  blocks  are 
first  marked  out  on  the  surface  by  a  series  of  grooves ;  one 
side  is  then  deepened  to  the  required  thickness,  and  wedges 
being  inserted  under  the  block,  it  is  soon  split  off. 

*  The  number  of  workmen  employed  in  the  mines  is  1,500, 
all  of  whom  belong  to  the  '  upper  crust,' — that  is,  they  live 
on  the  outside  of  the  world.  They  are  divided  into  gangs, 
and  relieve  each  other  every  six  hours.  Each  gang  quarries 
out,  on  an  average,  a  little  more  than  1,000  cwt.  of  salt  in 
that  space  of  time,  making  the  annual  yield  1,500,000  cwt. ! 

'  The  men  we  saw  were  fine,  muscular,  healthy-looking 
fellows ;  and  the  officer,  in  answer  to  my  questions,  stated 
that  their  sanitary  condition  was  quite  equal  to  that  of  field 
labourers.  He  explicitly  denied  the  ridiculous  story  of  men 
having  been  born  in  these  mines,  and  having  gone  through 
life  without  ever  mounting  to  the  upper  world.' 

As  far  as  explored,  the  salt-bed  occupies  a  space  of  9,000 
feet  in  length  and  4,000  in  width,  and  consists  of  five  suc- 
cessive stages  or  stocJcwerhe,  separated  from  each  other  by 
intervening  strata  of  from  100  to  150  feet  in  thickness,  and 
reaching  to  a  depth  of  1,500  feet.  Notwithstanding  the 
immense  amount  of  salt  already  quarried  from  this  wonderful 
deposit,  which,  according  to  authentic  records,  has  been 
worked  ever  since  the  twelfth  century,  and  perhaps  even  much 
earlier,  it  is  estimated  that,  at  the  present  rate  of  exploitation, 
the  known  supply  cannot  be  exhausted  under  300  years. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  sources  of  sweet 
water  are  found  in  the  mines  in  close  proximity  to  the  salt, 
a  circumstance  which  is  owing  to  the  latter  not  forming  a 
continuous  stratum,  but  being  imbedded  in  large  nests  or 
insular  masses  in  the  tertiary  clay  of  the  mountain,  so  that 
in  several  places  the  water  filtering  from  the  top  is  able  to 
gush  forth  in  the  subterranean  galleries  without  any  saline 
admixture. 

In  the  summer  of  1868  a  serious  accident  happened  to  the 
mines  of  Wieliczka,  which  at  one  time  was  supposed  to 
threaten  their  total  destruction.    In  the  hope  of  discovering 

F   F   2 


436  THE    SUBTERR/YNEAN   WORLD. 

valuable  potash  salts,  such  as  occur  at  Stassfurt,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  rock-salt,  a  boring  was  imprudently  attempted 
at  a  great  depth,  through  a  contiguous  aquiferous  stratum, 
and  the  consequence  was  that,  instead  of  meeting  with  the 
expected  result,  a  powerful  spring  was  tapped,  which,  pour- 
ing forth  an  immense  volume  of  water,  filled  the  lower 
galleries.  The  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Wieliczka,  which 
is  situated  above  the  mines,  were  terrified.  They  not  only 
feared  for  the  ruin  of  the  mine,  which  afforded  them  their 
chief  means  of  subsistence,  but  dreaded  also  the  falling  in  of 
their  houses,  in  consequence  of  the  melting  of  the  salt-pillars 
which  upheld  the  flooded  galleries. 

Fortunately  their  fears  proved  to  be  exaggerated,  as  the 
inundation,  which  remained  confined  to  the  lower  galleries,  is 
now  being  rapidly  brought  under  by  means  of  powerful  steam 
pumps,  and  measures  have  been  taken  for  blocking  up  the 
spring.  Even  supposing  the  water  to  have  continued  pour- 
ing in  with  undiminished  force,  and  without  any  effort  being 
made  to  drain  it  off,  the  excavations  are  so  vast  that  it  would 
have  taken  many  years  to  fill  them. 

Besides  the  mines  of  Wieliczka,  Austria  possesses  many 
other  considerable  deposits  of  rock-salt  in  Gallicia  (Bochnia), 
Hungary,  and  Transylvania.  In  Salzburg  (Ischl,  Halstadt 
Hall),  Tyrol,  and  the  neighbouring  mines  of  Berchtesgaden, 
in  Bavaria,  the  salt  does  not  occur  in  large  solid  masses,  fit 
to  be  at  once  extracted  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  but 
imbues  masses  of  gypsum  and  anhydrite,  which  become 
quite  light  and  porous  when  the  salt  has  been  removed  by 
water.  As  it  would  be  too  expensive  to  remove  this  com- 
pound, an  ingenious  method  has  been  contrived  for  intro- 
ducing water  into  the  mines  from  above,  and  drawing  it  off 
again  through  an  adit  or  lower  gallery  as  soon  as  it  is  satu- 
rated with  salt. 

The  brine  thus  obtained  at  Berchtesgaden  is  then  conveyed, 
by  means  of  pipes  or  conduits,  to  Reichenhall  and  Rosenhain, 
where  the  necessary  fuel  for  its  evaporation  is  near  at 
hand.  The  distance  from  Berchtesgaden  to  Rosenhain  is  no 
less  than  thirty  leagues  ;  and  between  both  places  many 
high  mountains,  steep  rocks,  and  narrow  gorges  intervene. 
The    works  which   lead  the  brine  over  this    distance,    and 


ROCK-SALT.  437 

through  all  these  natural  obstacles,  may  therefore  justly  be 
considered  as  a  masterpiece  of  mechanical  skill.  As  the  pipes 
must  often  ascend  mountains,  the  highest  elevation  above 
the  pit  being  1,218  feet,  and  then  again  slant  down  into 
ravines ;  as  in  many  parts  rocks  had  to  be  levelled  and 
forests  cut  down  for  the  purpose  of  laying  them,  and  as  they 
are  subject  to  frequent  damage  in  a  severe  climate,  it  may 
easily  be  imagined  that  the  greatest  engineering  power  was 
required  for  the  execution  of  so  grand  a  work. 

Hydraulic  machines  serve  to  raise  the  brine  over  the 
mountains,  and  the  water-power  of  the  rivulets  descending 
from  the  heights  is  used  for  forcing  it  upwards.  The  con- 
trivance is  so  admirable  that  the  small  machine  at  Berchtes- 
gaden  raises  270  cwt.  of  brine  to  a  height  of  311  feet  by 
means  of  an  equal  weight  of  water  descending  from  a  height 
of  375  feet.  In  some  parts  the  tubes  of  this  colossal  duct 
run  along  the  high  road,  in  others  tunnels  have  been  pierced 
to  shorten  the  distance. 

Thus  the  Alpine  rock-salt  requires  much  ingenuity  to  be 
rendered  productive,  while  in  other  parts  we  find  rock-salt 
cropping  out  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  so  as  to  be 
very  easily  worked.  The  soil  of  many  extensive  wastes  in 
Asia  and  Africa  is  covered  and  impregnated  with  salt, 
which  has  never  been  inclosed  by  superimposed  deposits. 
Near  Lake  Oroomiah,  in  Persia,  it  forms  hills  and  exten- 
sive plains,  and  it  abounds  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Caspian  Sea. 

In  the  valley  of  Cardona  in  the  Pyrenees  two  thick  masses 
of  rock-salt,  apparently  united  at  their  bases,  make  their 
appearance  on  one  of  the  slopes  of  the  hill.  One  of  the  beds, 
or  rather  masses,  has  been  worked,  and  measures  about  130 
yards  by  250,  but  its  depth  has  not  been  determined.  It 
consists  of  salt  in  a  laminated  condition  and  with  confused 
crystallisation.  That  part  which  is  exposed  is  composed  of 
eight  beds,  nearly  horizontal,  and  having  a  total  thickness  of 
fifteen  feet,  but  the  beds  are  separated  from  one  another  by 
red  and  variegated  marls  and  gypsum.  The  second  mass 
not  worked  appears  to  be  unstratified,  but  in  other  respects 
resembles  the  former-;  and  this  portion,  where  it  has  been 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  weather,  is  steeply  scarped  and 


438  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

bristles  with  needlelike  points,  so  that  its  appearance  has 
been  compared  to  that  of  a  glacier. 

The  rock-salt  deposit  of  Ilezk,  abont  fifty  miles  to  the 
south  of  Orenburg,  in  Russia,  is  still  more  remarkable.  On 
the  sides  of  a  crater-like  pit,  which  has  been  dug  into  the 
mass  where  it  most  nearly  approaches  the  surface,  the  rock- 
salt  is  seen  standing  in  perpendicular  walls.  On  the  west 
side  of  the  gap  a  convenient  staircase  leads  to  the  bottom. 
The  salt  is  hewn  in  large  square  blocks,  which  are  afterwards 
sawn  into  smaller  pieces  of  eighty-five  pounds.  The  regular 
annual  produce  is  fixed  by  Government  at  700,000  pud, 
or  about  10,000  tons,  of  which  part  is  furnished  gratuitously 
to  the  neighbouring  Kirghise  hordes,  who  no  doubt  are 
made  to  pay  dearly  for  their  salt  in  some  other  manner. 

The  labours  in  the  mine  are  only  carried  on  during  the 
summer,  and  begin  by  pumping  out  the  water  which  has 
settled  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit  from  the  melting  snow; 
while  the  transport  to  the  next  river  by  means  of  sledges 
takes  place  during  the  winter.  Were  this  mine  situated  in 
a  less  barbarous  or  more  accessible  country,  it  might  easily 
rival,  or  even  surpass,  the  produce  of  Cheshire.  To  the 
south  of  the  pit,  where  the  regular  mining  operations,  such 
as  they  are,  take  place,  a  great  number  of  old  pits  or  holes 
may  be  seen,  in  which  the  Cossacks,  Baschkirs,  and  Kirghise 
used  to  provide  themselves  with  salt  before  Government 
undertook  the  regular  working  of  the  mine  in  1754.  These 
pits,  some  of  which  are  sixty  feet  square,  and  from  six  to 
eight  feet  deep,  are  generally  full  of  a  saturated  brine  of  a 
brownish  colour,  and  are  made  use  of  for  bathing  by  the 
Kirghise,  who  justly  consider  them  as  an  excellent  remedy  for 
many  diseases. 

Before  1856  all  the  salt  produced  in  Prussia  was  ob- 
tained from  brine  springs,  but  since  that  time  enormous  beds 
of  rock-salt  have  been  discovered  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom.  Those  of  Stassfurt,  near  Magdeburg,  produced 
2,256,000  cwt.  in  1866,  part  of  which  was  exported  into 
foreign  countries,  through  the  ports  of  Lubeck  and  Ham- 
burg. But  the  mines  of  Stassfurt,  besides  rock-salt,  contain 
also  an  inexhaustible  quantity  of  highly  valuable  potash  salts, 
which  are  largely  used  for  agricultural  purposes,  and  supply  the 


METHOD    OF    WORKING   ROCK-SALT.  439 

wants  of  the  numerous  chemical  manufactories  which  have 
rapidly  converted  an  obscure  hamlet  into  a  flourishing  seat 
of  industry.  At  Speerenberg,  about  twenty  miles  to  the 
south  of  Berlin,  the  earth-borer  has  pierced  through  an 
enormous  deposit  of  rock-salt,  more  than  two  thousand  feet 
thick,  and  at  Segeberg,  in  the  province  of  Sleswig-Holstein, 
a  shaft  is  now  being  sunk  into  a  rich  bed  of  rock-salt, 
recently  discovered. 

The  method  of  preparing  the  rock-salt,  and  the  processes 
employed  in  manufacturing  salt  from  brine  springs,  are 
nearly  the  same  in  all  salt-works.  The  first  process  is  to 
obtain  a  proper  strength  of  brine,  either  by  saturating  fresh 
water  with  the  salt  that  has  been  brought  up  from  the  mine, 
or  pumping  up  the  salt  water  from  springs  that  have  become 
saturated  by  passing  through  saliferous  beds.  The  brine 
obtained  in  a  clear  state  is  put  into  evaporating  pans  and 
brought  as  quickly  as  possible  to  a  boiling  heat  (in  the  case 
of  strong  brine  226°  ¥.),  when  a  skin  is  formed  on  the  surface, 
consisting  chiefly  of  impurities.  This  is  taken  off,  and 
either  thrown  away  or  used  for  agricultural  purposes,  and 
the  first  crystals  which  form  are  likewise  raked  away  and 
thrown  aside  Aas  of  little  value.  The  heat  is  then  kept  up 
to  the  boiling  point  for  about  eight  hours,  during  which 
time  evaporation  goes  on  steadily,  the  liquid  gradually 
diminishing,  and  the  salt  being  deposited;  it  is  then  raked 
out,  put  into  moulds,  and  placed  in  a  drying  stove,  to  render 
it  perfectly  dry  and  ready  for  sale. 

When  salt  is  to  be  prepared  from  the  weak  brines  which 
are  of  common  occurrence  in  France  and  Germany,  the  brine 
is  concentrated  by  natural  evaporation  previous  to  the  more 
costly  application  of  artificial  heat.  Having  been  first  raised 
by  pumps,  it  is  then  allowed  to  trickle  in  a  continuous 
stream  down  the  surface  of  bundles  of  thorns  exposed  to  the 
sun  and  wind,  and  built  up  in  regular  walls  between  parallel 
wooden  frames.  These  evaporating  works  (Gradirwerhe  or 
graduation-houses)  are  frequently  of  an  immense  extent. 
At  Salza,  near  Schonebeck,  for  instance,  the  graduation- 
house  is  5,817  feet  long,  the  thorn  walls  are  from  33  to 
52  feet  high  in  different  parts,  and  present  a  total  surface 
of  25,000  feet.     According  to  the  weakness  of  the  brine  it 


440  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

must  be  the  more  frequently  pumped  up  and  made  to  flow 
down  repeatedly  over  the  thorns  in  different  compartments 
of  the  building.  An  immense  quantity  of  fuel  is  saved  by 
this  economical  mode  of  evaporation. 

The  origin  of  rock-salt  deposits  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting geological  questions.  According  to  some  authori- 
ties, they  were  the  result  of  igneous  agency,  while  others  are 
of  opinion  that  in  every  case  they  have  been  deposited  from 
solution  in  water.  Their  usual  occurrence  in  lenticular  or 
irregularly-shaped  beds,  having  a  great  horizontal  extension, 
favours  the  aqueous  theory,  for  masses  protruded  upwards, 
or  sublimated  by  volcanic  power,  are  generally  found  to 
occupy  vertical  fissures.  To  account  for  their  formation  we 
must  suppose  a  sea  such  as  the  Mediterranean  cut  off  by  an 
elevation  of  the  land  at  its  mouth  from  its  previous  com- 
munication with  the  ocean,  and  gradually  losing  more  water 
by  evaporation  than  it  receives  by  rain  and  rivers.  As  thus 
the  amount  of  salt  which  it  holds  dissolved  increases,  de- 
posits of  rock-salt  will  ultimately  form  at  the  bottom  of  its 
deepest  parts,  and  subsequent  changes  in  the  earth's  surface 
may  then  either  conceal  them  under  superincumbent  strata, 
as  at  Northwich,  or  leave  them  exposed,  as  in  many  of  the 
African  or  Asiatic  wastes. 


441 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

STJLPHUK. 

Sulphur  Mines  of  Sicily — Conflagration  of  a  Sulphur  Mine — The  Solfataras 
of  Krisuvick — Iwogasima  in  Japan — Solfatara  of  Puzzuoli — Crater  of  Teneriffe 
— Alaghez — Biidoshegy  in  Transylvania — Sulphur  from  the  Throat  of  Popo- 
catepetl— Sulphurous  Springs — Pyrites — Mines  of  San  Domingos  in  Portugal — 
The  Baron  of  Pommorao. 

THOUGH  in  every  volcanic  region  of  the  globe  sulphurous 
exhalations  arise  from  a  great  number  of  craters  or  solfa- 
taras, yet  sulphur  is  but  rarely  found  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  remunerate  the  miner's  toil.  In  this  respect  the  island  of 
Sicily  is  unrivalled,  for  no  other  country  possesses  such  masses 
of  this  valuable,  and  in  many  cases  indispensable,  mineral. 

The  numerous  sulphur  pits  of  Sicily,  which  occur  in  crevices 
or  hollows  over  a  space  of  150  geographical  miles,  are  situ- 
ated chiefly  in  the  southern  part  of  the  island,  in  the  districts 
between  the  sea-border  of  the  province  of  Girgenti  and  the 
mountains  of  Etna,  Mannaro,  Castro  Giovanni,  and  Catolica. 
They  are  no  doubt  the  produce  of  a  vast  volcanic  action 
which  took  place  about  the  beginning  of  the  tertiary  period, 
when  the  sulphurous  fumes,  rising  through  countless  clefts 
or  fumaroles  from  the  mysterious  furnaces  of  the  deep,  con- 
densed in  the  chalk  and  clay  grounds  of  the  superficial 
strata. 

In  former  times,  as  long  as  the  chief  use  of  sulphur  was 
confined  to  the  fabrication  of  gunpowder,  its  production 
was  comparatively  insignificant ;  but  since  the  manufacture 
of  sulphuric  acid  has  become  a  branch  of  industry  of  con- 
tinually increasing  importance,  sulphur,  the  ingredient 
necessary  to  its  formation,  has  considerably  risen  in  value, 
and  now  constitutes  the  chief  article  of  Sicilian  exportation. 


442  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Girgenti,  the  most  important  town  on  the  south  coast  of 
the  island,  though  its  dirty  miserable  streets  and  its  15,000 
inhabitants  form  a  melancholy  contrast  to  the  wealth  and 
luxury  of  ancient  Agrigeutum,  within  whose  lofty  walls  a 
population  of  800,000  souls  is  said  to  have  existed,  owes  to 
the  increase  of  the  sulphur  trade  the  slight  dawn  of  pro- 
sperity which  has  enlivened  it  during  these  latter  years. 

All  the  sulphur-pits  in  the  south-west  of  the  island  send 
their  produce  to  the  port  of  Girgenti,  and  on  every  road  one 
meets  with  long  files  of  mules  and  asses  loaded  with  sacks  of 
sulphur. 

The  grape  disease,  against  which  this  mineral  is  every- 
where used  in  France  and  Italy  as  the  only  successful  remedy, 
has  given  a  new  impulse  to  the  sulphur  trade  by  raising  the 
price  to  about  three  times  its  former  value.  The  merchants 
of  Girgenti  did  not  neglect  this  opportunity  for  making  their 
fortunes,  for  as  soon  as  the  grape  disease  became  a  national 
calamity  for  the  chief  wine-producing  countries,  they  bought 
up  large  tracts  of  sulphur-grounds,  and  thus  acquired  con- 
siderable wealth. 

A  visit  paid  by  Dr.  Hackel*  in  1859  to  the  sulphur  pits 
near  Girgenti  proves  that  mining  operations  in  Sicily  are 
still  in  the  primitive  condition  described  by  all  former  tra- 
vellers. Not  even  our  commonest  improvements  are  known  ; 
the  pickaxe  and  the  spade  are  almost  the  only  implements 
employed,  and  with  these  the  earth  is  excavated  in  the  most 
slovenly  manner,  wherever  a  vein  promises  to  be  productive. 
The  materials  thus  loosened  from  the  rock  are  carried  out  of 
the  mine  in  baskets  and  thrown  into  large  heaps,  from  which 
the  sulphur  is  extracted  in  the  following  wasteful  manner. 
The  conical  mounds  are  covered  with  a  mantle  of  moist  clay, 
in  which  some  openings  are  left  for  the  emission  of  the 
smoke,  and  set  fire  to  at  the  bottom.  The  melted  sulphur 
collects  in  grooves  or  channels,  and  flows  into  square  forms, 
where  it  congeals  into  a  solid  mass.  This  method,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  first  introduced  by  the  Saracens,  causes,  of 
course,  a  great  loss  of  sulphur ;  but  distilling  ovens  heated  by 
coal  have  been  found  too  expensive  to  answer.     Dr.  Hackel 

*  'Zeitschrift  fur  allgemeine  Erdkunde,'  No.  84,  Jimi  1860. 


SICILIAN   SULPHUR   MINES.  443 

traversed  one  of  the  longest  excavations,  which  was  some- 
times so  narrow  that  he  could  only  with  difficulty  pass,  and 
then  expanded  into  high  vaults  whose  roof  was  ornamented 
with  beautiful  crystals  of  celestine  and  gypsum.  The  work- 
men were  completely  naked,  on  account  of  the  oppressive 
heat  which  reigns  in  these  pits  ;  and  their  dark  brown  skins, 
sprinkled  with  light  yellow  sulphur  dust,  gave  them  a  very 
strange  and  savage  appearance.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Girgenti  are  at  present  employed  in  the  sulphur  mines,  and 
comparatively  few  are  engaged  in  cultivating  the  beautiful 
gardens  and  fields  that  extend  from  the  foot  of  the  town  to 
the  sea,  and  occupy  the  site  where  once  the  ancient  city  of 
Agrigentum  rose  from  the  shore  to  the  terraced  hills  which 
are  still  crowned  with  the  ruins  of  her  colossal  temples. 

On  an  average,  the  sulphur-ores  of  Sicily  yield  about 
sixteen  per  cent,  of  brimstone,  and  the  quantity  annually 
produced  has  increased  from  94,985  tons  in  1851  to  184,173 
tons  in  1866.  Besides  Girgenti,  the  chief  ports  from  which 
sulphur  is  exported  are  those  of  Licata,  Terranova,  Sicn- 
liana,  Palermo,  Messina,  and  Catania. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  events  in  the  history  of 
Sicilian  sulphur  mines  occurred  during  the  last  century  in 
the  solfatara  of  Sommatino.  This  celebrated  pit,  which  is 
situated  on  the  precipitous  right  bank  of  the  Salso  Valley, 
took  fire  in  1787,  through  the  negligence  of  the  workmen, 
and  as  may  easily  be  imagined  from  the  inflammable  nature 
of  the  materials,  the  conflagration  caused  the  complete  aban- 
donment of  the  pit.  After  two  years,  however,  during  which 
the  fire  raged  incessantly,  the  mountain  suddenly  burst 
asunder  on  its  south-eastern  flank,  and  a  stream  of  melted 
sulphur,  gushing  forth  from  the  cleft,  precipitated  itself 
into  the  neighbouring  river.  This  phenomenon,  which  was 
evidently  caused  by  Nature  having  performed  on  a  vast 
scale  an  operation  similar  to  that  by  which  the  sulphur  is 
usually  extracted  from  the  ore,  produced  a  mass  of  the  purest 
brimstone,  amounting  to  more  than  40,000  tons,  so  that 
the  owners  of  the  pit,  who  had  given  up  their  property 
as  totally  lost,  became  enriched  by  the  very  circumstance 
which  had  seemed  to  menace  them  with  utter  ruin. 

Next  to  the  sulphur  mines  of  Sicily,  those  of  Teruel  and 


444  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Lorca,  in  Spain,  which  in  1862  furnished  12,639  tons,  are 
the  most  considerable  in  Europe.  The  mines  of  Perticara  di 
Talamella,  in  Italy,  annually  yield  about  4,000  tons  ;  and  the 
Austrian  sulphur  pits  of  Swoszowice,  near  Cracovia,  and  of 
Radoboy,  in  Croatia,  produced  1,867  tons  in  1865, 

In  all  these  mines  the  sulphur  has  been  deposited  or  con- 
densed in  times  long  past,  undoubtedly  in  the  same  manner 
as  it  is  formed  in  the  solfataras  of  the  present  day,  where 
the  decomposition  of  the  volanic  gases  on  reaching  the 
atmosphere  causes  the  precipitation  of  sulphur. 

Most  of  these  still  active  solfataras  are  unproductive  in  a 
commercial  sense,  either  from  their  inaccessible  position  in 
the  crater  basins  of  enormous  volcanoes,  or  from  their  situa- 
tion in  remote  deserts,  or  from  the  small  quantities  of  the 
mineral  forming  on  their  surface. 

The  solfataras  of  Krisuvick  in  Iceland,  for  instance,  are 
separated  from  the  nearest  ports  by  such  rugged  lava-fields 
as  to  render  the  cost  of  transport  an  almost  insurmountable 
obstacle  to  their  being  worked  with  profit.  But  though 
undeserving  of  the  mercantile  speculator's  attention,  these 
northern  sulphur  pits  rank  among  the  most  striking  natural 
wonders  of  Iceland.* 

The  remote  solfataras  of  Japan  afford  a  more  abundant 
supply.  '  The  sulphur,'  says  Kampfer,  in  his  history  of  that 
singular  country,  '  is  the  produce  of  a  small  island  which, 
from  the  great  quantity  it  affords  of  this  substance,  is  called 
"  Iwogasima,"  or  the  Sulphur  Island.  It  is  not  above  a 
hundred  years  since  the  natives  first  ventured  to  explore 
that  desert  spot,  which,  from  the  smoke  rising  from  its 
surface,  was  previously  supposed  to  be  the  abode  of  demons. 
At  length  a  bold  adventurer  obtained  leave  to  visit  the 
dreaded  island.  He  chose  fifty  resolute  men  to  accompany 
him  on  his  hazardous  expedition,  and  on  landing  found, 
instead  of  the  fiends  he  expected  to  encounter,  a  volcanic 
soil,  covered  in  many  parts  with  thick  deposits  of  sulphur, 
and  emitting  dense  volumes  of  smoke  from  countless  fuma- 
roles.  Ever  since  that  time  the  island  yields  a  considerable 
revenue  to  the  Prince  of  Satzuma.' 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  solfataras  is  that  of  Puzzuoli, 

*  «  The  Polar  World,'  p.  52. 


SOLFATARA    OF   PUZZUOLI.  445 

near  Naples.  It  may  be  considered  as  a  nearly  extinguished 
crater,  and  appears,  by  the  accounts  of  Strabo  and  others,  to 
have  been  before  the  Christian  era  in  very  much  its  present 
sta,te,  giving  vent  continually  to  aqueous  vapours,  together 
with  sulphureous  and  muriatic  acid  gases,  like  those  evolved 
by  Vesuvius.  This  remarkable  spot  has  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  naturalists  and  poets  since  the  remotest  antiquity, 
and  Homer  mentions  it  in  his  immortal  narrative  of  the 
peregrinations  of  Ulysses.  The  process  for  the  separation  of 
the  sulphur,  which  is  condensed  in  considerable  quantities 
amongst  the  gravel  collected  in  the  circle  which  forms  the 
interior  of  the  crater,  is  conducted  in  the  following  manner. 
The  mixture  of  sulphur  and  gravel  is  dug  up  and  submitted 
to  distillation,  to  extract  the  sulphur;  the  gravel  is  then 
returned  to  its  original  place,  and  in  the  course  of  about 
thirty  years  is  again  so  rich  in  sulphur  as  to  serve  for  the 
same  process  once  more. 

'  The  crater  of  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,'  says  Leopold  von 
Buch,  '  is  now  but  an  immense  solfatara.  The  sulphureous 
vapours  which  escape  from  every  part  of  the  vast  cauldron, 
decompose  the  rock,  convert  it  into  white  clay,  and  cover  it 
in  many  places  with  beautiful  crystals  of  sulphur.  By  this 
constant  chemical  action,  the  soil  towards  the  centre  of  the 
crater  has  been  rendered  so  soft  that  in  many  places  great 
caution  is  necessary  to  avoid  sinking  into  the  yielding  mass, 
which  has  a  temperature  higher  than  that  of  boiling  water.' 

A  remarkable  sulphur  formation  occurs  on  the  rocks  sur- 
rounding the  crater  of  the  volcano  Alaghez,  situated  in 
Northern  Armenia.  The  sulphur  is  precipitated  in  thick 
crusts  on  their  walls,  and  as  the  summit  of  the  crater  is  in- 
accessible, the  people  of  the  neighbourhood,  in  order  to 
collect  the  sulphur,  fire  at  it  with  musket  balls,  and  pick  up 
the  fragments  thus  detached. 

Close  beneath  the  summit  of  the  Patuka,  in  Java,  is  a 
circular  lake  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  in  diameter.  The  bor- 
ders are  covered  with  a  rich  vegetation ;  the  water  is  clear 
and  colourless,  but  appears  yellowish  from  the  reflection  of 
the  sulphur  which  covers  the  whole  bottom  of  the  lake.  In 
1818  Reinwardt  found  in  this  piece  of  water  an  islet  com- 
pletely composed  of  sulphur. 


446  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

After  the  eruption  of  the  Tashem  Idjem,  another  Javanese 
volcano,  in  1796,  such  quantities  of  sulphur  were  formed  that 
several  hundred  shiploads  could  be  gathered  and  exported 
as  the  produce  of  this  single  volcanic  paroxysm. 

The  mountain  Biidoshegy,  in  Transylvania,  exhibits  the 
remarkable  phenomenon  of  sulphur  caves.  On  entering  one  of 
these  vast  subterranean  crevices,  incrustations  of  sulphur  are 
seen  to  cover  the  lower  part  of  the  walls  ;  but  respiration  is 
still  easy  and  free.  On  advancing  a  few  steps  the  air 
acquires  a  sharp  acidulous  taste,  and  the  feet  begin  to  feel  a 
warmth  which  gradually  increases  to  an  intolerable  heat. 
On  advancing  still  further  the  lights  are  extinguished.  A 
speedy  retreat  is  necessary,  and  imprudent  visitors  have  been 
known  to  pay  for  their  curiosity  with  their  lives. 

In  the  island  of  Milo  there  are  likewise  numerous  caverns 
the  walls  of  which  are  incrusted  with  sulphur  and  alum. 
A  visit  to  these  grottoes,  which  annually  yield  about  five 
hundred  tons  of  pure  sulphur,  is  not  without  danger  from 
the  suffocating  fumes  that  issue  from  their  crevices. 

Some  of  the  Arabian  volcanoes  also  produce  considerable 
quantities  of  sulphur,  such  as  the  Dufan,  which  is  called 
Djebel-el-Kebril,  or  '  Sulphur  Mountain '  by  the  Arabs,  and 
is  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  Herodotus. 

Though  the  craters  of  volcanoes  are  generally  almost 
inaccessible,  yet  history  mentions  a  curious  instance  where 
the  most  extraordinary  exertions  were  made  for  collecting 
sulphur  above  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow.  During  the 
wondrous  campaign  which  ended  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
empire  of  Montezuma,  Cortez,  being  in  want  of  powder,  sent 
a  party  under  Francisco  Montano,  a  cavalier  of  determined 
resolution,  to  gather  sulphur  from  the  smoking  throat  of 
Popocatepetl,  which  rises,  with  its  silvery  sheet  of  everlasting 
snow,  to  the  height  of  17,852  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
After  traversing  the  lower  region,  which  was  clothed  with  a 
dense  forest,  so  thickly  matted  that  in  some  places  it  was 
scarcely  possible  to  penetrate  it,  the  track  of  the  Spaniards 
opened  on  a  black  surface  of  glazed  volcanic  sand  and  of 
lava,  the  broken  fragments  of  which,  arrested  in  its  boiling 
process  in  a  thousand  fantastic  forms,  opposed  continual 
impediments  to  their  advance.     They  now  came  to  the  limits 


SULPHUR  SPRINGS.  447 

of  perpetual  snow,  where  new  difficulties  presented  them- 
selves, as  the  treacherous  ice  gave  an  imperfect  footing,  and 
a  false  step  might  precipitate  them  into  the  frozen  chasms 
that  yawned  around.  To  increase  their  distress  respiration 
in  these  aerial  regions  became  so  difficult  that  every  effort 
was  attended  with  sharp  pains  in  the  head  and  limbs.  At 
length  they  reached  the  edge  of  the  crater,  which  presented 
an  irregular  ellipse  at  its  mouth  more  than  a  league  in  cir- 
cumference. A  lurid  flame  burned  gloomily  at  the  bottom, 
sending  up  a  sulphurous  steam,  which,  cooling  as  it  rose, 
was  precipitated  on  the  walls  of  the  cavity.  The  party  cast 
lots,  and  it  fell  on  Montaiio  himself  to  descend  in  a  basket 
into  this  hideous  abyss,  into  which  he  was  lowered  by  his 
companions  to  the  depth  of  four  hundred  feet !  This  was 
repeated  several  times,  till  the  adventurous  cavalier  had  col- 
lected a  sufficient  quantity  of  sulphur  for  the  wants  of 
the  army. 

Many  mineral  springs  owe  their  medicinal  properties  to 
the  hydrosulphuric  acid  which  they  contain,  and  whose  de- 
composition frequently  gives  rise  to  the  formation  of  sulphur. 
When  the  large  marble  slab  which  covers  the  imperial 
source  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  is  removed  at  the  end  of  every 
twenty  years,  about  two  hundred  pounds  of  sulphur  are 
collected  from  the  walls  above  the  spring. 

Combinations  of  sulphur  with  metals,  particularly  with 
iron  and  copper  (pyrites),  occur  in  much  more  considerable 
masses  and  in  a  far  greater  number  of  localities  than  the 
pure  uncombined  mineral.  Formerly  the  sulphides  of  iron 
(521  per  cent.  sulphur,  47J  per  cent,  iron)  and  copper 
served  only  for  the  fabrication  of  vitriol  and  alum ;  but  since 
the  progress  of  chemical  science  has  allowed  them  to  be  pro- 
fitably used  for  the  manufacture  of  sulphuric  acid,  they  have 
acquired  a  far  greater  importance.  Our  own  mines,  which  are 
situated  chiefly  in  the  county  of  Wicklow,  produced  in  1866 
at  least  135,000  tons  of  iron  pyrites,  besides  which  an  ad- 
ditional quantity  of  about  100,000  tons  was  imported  from 
other  countries. 

In  Southern  Spain  the  mines  of  cupriferous  pyrites— par- 
ticularly in  the  province  of  Huelva,  and  in  the  Sierra  de 
Tharsis,  which  on  account  of  the  copper  they    contain  were 


448  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

already  worked  in  times  anterior  to  the  Eoman  occupation, 
and  give  proof  of  their  ancient  importance  by  the  vast  dimen- 
sions of  their  excavations — produced  in  1863  no  less  than 
246,137  tons.  In  Portugal  the  mines  of  San  Domingos,  in 
the  province  of  Alentejo,  likewise  afford  a  remarkable 
example  of  the  mining  industry  of  the  Romans,  in  the  ancient 
adit  which  served  for  draining  the  works.  They  merely 
used  the  ores  that  were  richest  in  copper,  and  rejected  the 
poorer  qualities,  which  form  the  immense  mounds  of  scorise 
round  the  mouth  of  the  excavations.  After  having  been 
abandoned  for  many  centuries  the  mines  of  San  Domingos 
are  once  more  diligently  worked.  Their  newly  acquired  im- 
portance is  due  chiefly  to  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  James 
Mason,  now  Baron  of  Pommorao.  A  railroad  nine  miles  long 
unites  the  mine  with  the  left  bank  of  the  Guadiana,  which  has 
been  rendered  navigable  for  larger  vessels  for  a  length  of  ten 
miles.  Moreover  the  port  of  Pommorao  has  been  excavated 
in  the  steep  bank  of  the  river  for  the  convenient  shipping  of 
the  pyrites.  Before  1858  a  solitary  hermitage  was  the  only 
dwelling  at  San  Domingos,  which  is  now  a  thriving  village 
of  five  hundred  houses,  with  a  handsome  church  and  a  rail- 
road station.  The  number  of  the  workmen  employed  in  1866 
amounted  to  two  thousand,  and  large  works  were  being 
erected  for  the  separation  of  the  copper.  In  1859  the  pro- 
duce of  these  mines  amounted  to  7,887  tons,  and  in  1866  it 
had  already  risen  to  167,028  tons,  which  formed  the  cargo 
of  544  ships.  Such  are  the  wonderful  changes  which  can 
be  brought  about  when  the  right  man  finds  the  right  place 
for  the  employment  of  his  energies.  France  produced  in 
1866  about  100,000  tons  of  pyrites,  Prussia  38,248  tons,  and 
Belgium  28,956  tons,  so  that  the  total  production  of  Europe 
now  probably  amounts  to  more  than  a  million  tons.  In 
Canada  the  ore  of  a  vast  deposit  of  pyrites  is  exported  to 
the  United  States,  where  it  serves  for  the  fabrication  of 
sulphuric  acid.  Thus  a  substance  scarcely  noticed  twenty 
years  ago  has  become  an  important  article  of  commerce  in 
both  hemispheres. 


449 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

AMBER. 

Various  Modes  of  its  Collection  on  the  Prussian  Coast — What  is  Amber?— The 
extinct  Amber  Tree — Insects  of  the  Miocene  Period  inclosed  in  Amber — For- 
midable Spiders — Ancient  and  Modern  Trade  in  Amber. 

AMBER  is  a  resinous  substance,  the  produce  of  extinct 
forests  that  now  lie  buried  in  the  earth  or  under  the 
bottom  of  the  sea. 

It  is  found  abundantly  on  the  Prussian  coast  of  the  Baltic, 
where  it  is  collected  in  many  ways.  After  stormy  weather 
it  is  frequently  cast  ashore  by  the  surf,  or  remains  floating 
on  the  water.  The  amber-fishers,  clothed  in  leather  dresses, 
then  wade  into  the  sea,  and  secure  the  amber  with  bag-nets, 
hung  at  the  ends  of  long  poles.  They  conclude  that  much 
amber  has  been  detached  from  its  bed  when  they  discover 
many  pieces  of  lignite  floating  about.  In  some  parts  the 
faces  of  the  precipitous  cliffs  along  the  shore  are  explored  in 
boats,  and  masses  of  loose  earth  or  rock,  supposed  to  contain 
the  object  of  seaxch,  are  detached  with  long  poles  having  iron 
hooks  at  their  ends.  It  is  also  dredged  for  on  an  extensive 
scale  at  the  bottom  of  the  Frische  and  Curische  Haffs,  and 
further  inland  large  quantities  are  dug  up  out  of  the  earth. 
That  which  is  washed  ashore  generally  consists  of  small 
pieces,  more  or  less  damaged,  while  the  specimens  obtained 
by  digging  or  dredging  are  frequently  of  large  size  and  of  a 
tuberous  form,  so  that,  though  inferior  in  quantity  to  the 
former,  their  value  is  probably  ten  times  greater. 

Digging  for  amber  is  a  favourite  pursuit  of  the  peasantry ; 
and  though  in  many  cases  it  proves  unsuccessful,  yet  some- 
times it  is  highly  remunerative.  Near  the  village  Kowall,  a 
few  miles  from  Dantzig,  avenues  of  trees  were  planted  a  few 

G  G 


450  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WOULD. 

years  back  along  the  high  road.  On  digging  one  of  the 
holes  destined  for  their  reception,  a  rich  amber  nest  was 
found.  Favourable  signs  induced  the  landowner  to  persevere 
in  digging,  and  at  length,  at  a  depth  of  about  thirty  feet,  such 
rich  deposits  of  amber  were  found  as  enabled  him  to  pay  off 
all  the  mortgages  on  his  estate. 

The  territories  where  amber  is  found  extend  over  Pomerania 
and  East  and  West  Prussia,  as  far  as  Lithuania  and  Poland, 
but  chiefly  in  the  former  provinces,  where  it  is  fotud  almost 
uniformly  in  separate  nodules  in  the  sand,  clay,  or  fragments 
of  lignite  of  the  upper  tertiary  and  alluvial  formations.  It 
also  occurs  in  the  beds  of  streams,  and  in  the  sand-banks  of 
rivers.  How  far  its  seat  may  extend  under  the  Baltic  is  of 
course  unknown.  Amber  is  likewise  met  with  on  the  coast 
of  Denmark  and  Sweden,  in  Gallicia  and  Moravia,  near 
Christiania  in  Norway,  and  in  Switzerland,  near  Basle.  It 
is  occasionally  found  in  the  gravel-pits  near  London,  and 
specimens  have  been  dug  up  in  Hyde  Park.  At  Aldborough, 
after  a  raking  tide,  it  is  thrown  on  the  beach  in  considerable 
quantities,  along  with  masses  of  jet. 

On  the  Sicilian  coast,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Piver  Giaretta, 
many  pieces  of  a  peculiar  blue  tinge  are  collected  and  sent  to 
Catania  to  be  cut  and  polished. 

Single  pieces  and  even  large  deposits  of  amber  are  said  to 
have  been  discovered  on  the  coasts  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  in 
Siberia,  Kamtschatka,  and  China,  in  North  America  and 
Madagascar.  These  accounts,  however,  require  confirmation, 
as  several  other  fossil  or  non-fossil  resinous  substances  so 
strongly  resemble  amber  as  to  have  deceived  even  well- 
informed  naturalists. 

What  is  this  substance,  and  how  has  it  been  produced  ? 
There  is  now  no  longer  any  doubt  that,  like  other  vegetable 
resins,  it  has  been  secreted  by  trees  which  have  long  since 
disappeared  from  the  surface  of  the  earth,  but  once  formed 
extensive  forests  on  the  islands  or  shores  of  the  vast  sea 
which  at  that  time  covered  the  plains  of  Northern  Europe 
as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Ouralian  chain. 

How  those  islands  disappeared,  and  how  those  primeval 
forests  came  to  be  buried  under  land  and  sea,  becomes 
apparent  from  the  changes  that   have  taken  place   in   the 


SOURCES    OF   THE   SUPPLY    OF   AMBER.  451 

South  Baltic  lands  since  the  last  two  thousand  years  in  con- 
sequence of  partial  upheavings  and  subsidences.  According 
to  the  oldest  Prussian  chronicler,  Peter  of  Duesburg,  whose 
narrative  begins  with  the  year  1226,  the  waves  of  the  Baltic 
at  that  time  reached  as  far  as  the  present  town  of  Kulm, 
and  a  century  later  vessels  sailed  as  far  as  Thorn.  The 
present  delta  of  the  Vistula  was  a  shallow  morass,  dotted  here 
and  there  with  a  flat  island,  and  continued  in  that  state 
until  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  dykes, 
raised  by  the  industry  of  man,  prevented  the  constantly 
recurring  inundations  of  the  river,  and  converted  gloomy 
swamps  into  fertile  meadows. 

In  other  parts  we  find  the  sea  incroaching  upon  the  land. 
Since  the  times  of  the  Teutonic  Order  a  whole  province  be- 
tween Pillau  and  Balga  has  been  submerged  by  the  floods  of 
the  Frische  Haff ;  and  the  first  Christian  church  in  Prussia, 
originally  built  five  miles  from  the  sea,  now  stands  close  to 
the  shore.  Dense  fir- forests  rose  in  gloomy  monotony,  but  a 
thousand  years  back,  where  now  the  Baltic  rolls  its  waters ; 
and  where  at  that  time  ships  lay  at  anchor  we  now  find 
hillocks  of  sand.  After  such  changes  in  comparatively  so 
short  a  time,  we  cannot  wonder  that  the  islands  of  the  amber 
period  should  have  been  replaced  by  other  lands  and  another 
sea. 

We  are  indebted  for  the  first  accurate  observations  on  the 
nature  of  the  amber-tree  to  Professor  Goeppert,  who  proved, 
by  the  microscopical  examination  of  the  cells  of  fossil  pieces 
of  wood  that  were  veined  or  streaked  with  amber,  and  thus 
evidently  had  secreted  the  resin,  that  they  proceeded  from 
several  conifera3,  belonging  to  the  extinct  genus  Pinites. 

In  many  of  our  pines  and  firs  we  frequently  find  between 
the  annual  rings  crevices  or  interstices  filled  with  resinous 
matter,  but  far  less  abundantly  than  in  the  amber- trees. 
The  only  existing  coniferous  plant  that  can  in  any  way  be 
compared  to  them  is  the  Dammar  a  australis,  of  New  Zealand, 
at  the  base  of  whose  trunk  masses  of  resin,  weighing  twenty 
or  thirty  pounds,  are  frequently  found.  In  Brazil  Yon 
Martius  often  saw  similar  lumps  at  the  foot  of  the  copal- 
tree,  which  dropping  from  the  trunk  had  collected  in  con- 
siderable masses  between  the  roots,  thus  showing  that  the 

G   G    2 


452 


TUB    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


large  rounded  or  globular  pieces  of  amber  must  have  been 
formed  in  the  same  manner,  while  the  thin  and  flat  straight 
or  cupuliform  pieces  were  moulded  upon  the  rind,  or  between 
the  annual  rings  of  the  tree. 

When  we  consider  the  abundant  secretion  of  the  amber- 
trees,  and  the  numberless  ages  during  which  they  may  have 
flourished,  we  cannot  wonder  that,  since  the  oldest  historic 
times,  every  violent  storm  which  stirs  up  the  ancient  forest- 
grounds  at  the  bottom  of  the  Baltic  casts  the  valuable  fossil 
ashore,  and  that  in  all  probability  future  generations  will 
still  be  able  to  collect  it  in  undiminished  quantities. 

Interesting*  in  itself,  amber  acquires  a  still  greater  scien- 
tific importance  through  the  remains  of  extinct  plants  and 
animals  which  are  found  imbedded  in  its  substance,  as  in  a 

transparent  shrine.  As,  in 
the  present  day,  many  a 
luckless  fly  is  caught  in 
the  recently  secreted  resins 
of  the  coniferse  and  hymen- 
ese,  thus  also  amber,  while 
still  in  a  semi-fluid  state, 
became  the  tomb  of  nume- 
rous insects  and  spiders. 
So  wonderful  is  their  pre- 
servation that  they  seem 
to  have  lived  but  yesterday, 
and  yet  how  many  millen- 
niums may  since  have 
passed  away ;  for  although  the  amber  formation  belongs  to 
the  miocene  period,  and  is  consequently  of  modern  date  when 
compared  with  the  forests  of  the  coal-formation,  we  still  are 
separated  from  it  by  a  vast  series  of  ages. 

The  extinct  organic  world  which  is  thus  beautifully  re- 
vealed to  us  so  greatly  resembled  the  present  vegetable 
and  animal  creation  that,  on  a  superficial  examination  of 
the  fossil  remains  contained  in  a  rich  amber  collection,  one 
would  hardly  suppose  them  to  be  anything  very  uncommon. 
The  unlearned  observer  who  connects  the  idea  of  a  past 
world  with  grotesque  or  gigantic  forms,  shakes  his  head  with 
an   incredulous   smile,   and  thinks   that  he   has   often    seen 


INSF-TTS   OR   VEGETABLE   SUBSTANCES  ENCLOSED 
IN  AMBElt. 


AMBER    FORESTS.  453 

similar  flowers  blooming  in  the  fields,  or  met  with  similar 
insects  in  the  forest.  Even  the  naturalist  is  uncertain,  until 
a  closer  inspection  teaches  him  that  each  of  these  so  wonder- 
fully preserved  plants  or  animals  possesses  some  distinct 
characteristics  which  widely  distinguish  it  from  the  analogous 
forms  of  the  present  day. 

Of  the  plants  of  the  coal  period  we  find  not  a  single  one 
existing  in  the  Amber  Forest ;  the  vegetation  is  much  more 
complicated  and  various  in  its  aspect ;  and  the  numerous 
coniferse  indicate  a  climate  similar  to  that  of  the  present 
northern  regions.  But  arboreal  growth  was  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  coniferse,  for  evergreen  oaks  and  poplars 
flourished  along  with  them. 

Heath  plants,  chiefly  belonging  to  genera  similar  to 
Andromeda,  Kalmia,  Rhododendrum,  Ledum,  and  Vaccinium, 
as  testified  by  numerous  leaves,  formed  the  underwood  of 
these  forests,  a  vegetation  similar  in  character  to  that  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains. 

The  deep  shade  of  these  primitive  woods  prevented  the 
evaporation  of  water,  the  ground  remained  damp  and  swampy, 
and  the  mouldering  leaves  produced  a  thick  layer  of  humus, 
on  which  flourished,  no  doubt,  a  dense  cryptogamous  vegeta- 
tion, as  well-preserved  ferns,  mosses,  lichens,  confervse,  and 
small  mushrooms,  partly  growing  as  parasites  on  dead  insects, 
sufficiently  testify. 

But  the  vegetable  remains  of  that  ancient  period  are  far 
surpassed  in  variety  and  number  by  the  embalmed  relics  of 
the  animal  creation.  Among  2,000  specimens  of  insects 
collected  by  Dr.  Berendt,  to  whom  we  owe  the  best  mono- 
graph on  amber,  this  naturalist  found  more  than  800 
different  species. 

Flies,  phryganese,  and  other  neuroptera,  Crustacea,  mille- 
pedes and  spiders,  blattidse  in  every  phase  of  development, 
beetles,  bees,  and  a  large  variety  of  ants,  show  a  great  simi- 
larity to  the  insect  life  of  the  present  day,  and  justify  the  con- 
clusion that  the  contemporaneous  animal  forms,  whose  size 
or  peculiar  habitat  prevented  their  being  embalmed  in  amber, 
were  comparatively  no  less  abundant. 

Whether  man  already  existed  at  the  time  of  the  amber- 
formation  is   a   question    which,   of  course,    could  only  be 


454  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

thoroughly  settled  by  the  discovery  of  some  specimen  of 
human  workmanship  imbedded  in  the  fossilised  resin.  At  all 
events,  the  amber-rings  of  rude  workmanship  which  have 
been  found  at  a  considerable  depth  below  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  along  with  rough  pieces,  sufficiently  prove  that  man 
must  have  been  a  very  old  inhabitant  of  the  Baltic  regions, 
for  those  remarkable  specimens  of  his  unskilled  industry 
have  evidently  preceded  the  catastrophe  which  buried  the 
rough  amber  under  the  earth,  and  must  have  been  exposed 
for  the  same  lapse  of  time  to  the  influences  of  the  soil,  as 
they  are  all  found  covered  with  the  same  dull  and  damaged 
crust. 

That  birds  enlivened  the  amber-forest  might  well  have 
been  supposed,  as  there  was  no  want  of  fruits  and  mealy 
seeds  for  their  subsistence ;  but  their  existence  is  proved 
bej^ond  all  doubt  by  a  feather  which  Dr.  Berendt  discovered 
in  a  piece  of  pale  yellow  transparent  amber.  To  what  bird 
may  this  remarkable  relic  of  the  past  have  belonged,  and 
when  may  the  wing  to  which  it  was  attached  while  living 
have  cleaved  the  air? 

Nu  fish  or  reptile  has  ever  yet  been  found  in  amber, 
however  frequently  fraud  may  have  attempted  to  imbed 
them  in  a  resinous  case  for  the  deception  of  ignorance.  It 
is,  indeed,  hardly  conceivable  that  the  finny  and  agile  in- 
habitants of  the  waters  could  ever  have  allowed  themselves 
to  be  caught  in  the  resins  of  a  terrestrial  forest,  though  some 
small  and  less  active  reptiles  may  occasionally  have  been 
entrapped. 

Of  all  the  insects  and  spiders,  and  the  more  rare  crusta- 
ceans inclosed  in  amber,  not  a  single  specimen  belongs  to  a 
species  of  the  present  time  ;  but  though  the  species  have 
disappeared,  almost  all  the  animals  of  those  primitive  woods, 
as  fir  as  they  are  known,  belong  to  genera  of  the  present 
time,  so  that  upon  the  whole  the  proportion  of  the  still 
flourishing  genera  to  such  as  are  extinct  is  as  eight  to  one. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  along  with  many  specimens  similar 
to  the  present  indigenous  types,  some  are  found  with  a  tropi- 
cal character,  whose  representatives  are  at  present  existing 
in  the  Brazilian  forests,  while  others  are  completely  without 
any  analogous  forms  in  the  present  creation  ;  as,  for  instance, 


THE    AMBER    TRADE.  455 

those  strange  Arachnidans,  the  Archaei,  which,  armed  with 
toothed  mandibles  longer  than  the  head,  and  provided  with 
strong  raptorial  claws,  must  have  been  most  formidable 
enemies  to  the  contemporaneous  insects. 

Amber  was  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  nations  of 
antiquity,  and  reckoned  among  the  gems  on  account  of  its 
rarity  and  value.  Ornaments  made  of  this  substance  have 
been  found  among  the  vestiges  of  the  lacustrine  dwellings  of 
Switzerland,  and  afford  a  convincing  proof  that  even  in  pre- 
historic times  it  was  an  article  of  commerce.  Many  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era  the  Phoenician  navigators  purchased 
amber  from  the  German  tribes  on  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea, 
these,  in  their  turn,  having  obtained  it,  probably  by  barter, 
from  the  Baltic  lands.  Thus  from  hand  to  hand  the  beauti- 
ful fossil  resin  found  its  way  to  the  courts  of  the  Indian 
princes  on  the  Ganges,  and  of  the  Persian  kings  in  Snsa  and 
Persepolis.  According  to  Barth  *  the  search  for  the  Amber 
Land  was  most  probably  the  aim  of  the  journey  which  the 
celebrated  traveller  Pytheas  of  Massilia  undertook  330  years 
before  Christ,  in  the  times  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

Plato  and  Aristotle,  Herodotus  and  JEschylus,  have  de- 
scribed and  lauded  in  prose  and  verse  the  wonderful  properties 
of  amber,  which  was  not  only  highly  valued  for  its  beauty, 
its  aromatic  smell,  and  its  electro-magnetic  power,  but  also 
for  the  medicinal  virtues  ascribed  to  it  by  a  credulous  age. 

Under  Nero  the  wealthy  Roman  senators  and  knights 
lavished  immense  sums  on  decorating  the  seats  and  tables, 
the  doors  and  columns,  of  their  state-rooms  with  amber, 
ivory,  and  tortoiseshell ;  and  even  at  a  later  period,  under 
Theodosius  the  Great,  when  the  declining  empire  was  already 
verging  to  its  fall,  large  quantities  still  continued  to  be 
imported  from  Germany. 

Though  no  longer  so  highly  prized  as  by  the  ancients, 
amber  still  continues  to  be  a  source  of  considerable  profit  to 
the  Baltic  provinces.  Almost  all  the  amber  collected 
throughout  the  land  finds  its  way  to  the  seaports  of  Konigs- 
berg  and  Dantzig,  where  it  is  sorted  according  to  its  size 
and  quality.     Good  round  pieces  of  a  shape  fit  to  be  worked 

*   '  Urgeschiohte  Deutschlands.' 


456  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

into  ornaments,  and  weighing  about  half  an  ounce,  are  worth 
from  nine  to  ten  dollars  per  pound  ;  a  good  piece  of  a  pound 
weight  fetches  as  much  as  fifty  dollars  ;  and  first-rate 
specimens  of  a  still  more  considerable  size,  and  faultless  in 
form  and  colour,  are  worth  at  least  one  hundred  dollars,  or 
even  more,  per  pound.  A  mass  weighing  thirteen  pounds 
has  been  found,  the  value  of  which  at  Constantinople  was 
said  to  be  no  less  than  30,000  dollars.  Smaller  pieces  from 
the  size  of  a  bean  to  that  of  a  pea,  such  as  are  fit  for  the 
beads  of  necklaces  or  rosaries,  are  valued  at  from  two  to  four 
shillings  per  pound,  and  the  grit  or  amber  rubbish  which  is 
used  for  varnishing,  fumigating,  or  the  manufacture  of  oil 
and  acid  of  amber,  is  worth  no  more  than  from  three  to 
eighteen  pence.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  amber, 
when  melted  or  dissolved,  is  incapable  of  coalescing  into 
larger  masses  with  the  retention  of  all  its  former  qualities, 
as  then  its  value  would  be  considerably  greater.  Large 
amber  vases  would  then  ornament  the  apartments  of  the 
wealthy,  and  the  corpses  of  the  illustrious  dead  might  repose 
in  transparent  shrines,  and  their  features  be  preserved  from 
decay  for  many  ages. 

The  trade  in  rough  amber  is  almost  exclusively  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jews,  who  purchase  it  from  the  amber-fishers, 
or  are  interested  in  the  diggings  which  are  made  on  most 
of  the  littoral  estates.  Through  the  agency  of  the  smaller 
collectors,  it  is  then  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  rich 
traders,  who  sell  or  export  it  in  larger  assortments. 

The  best  qualities  only  of  translucent,  milky,  or  semi- 
opaque  amber  find  a  ready  sale  in  the  Oriental  market, 
where  they  are  almost  exclusively  used  for  making  the 
mouth-pieces  to  pipes,  and  these  form  an  essential  consti- 
tuent of  the  Turkish  tschibouque  ;  for  there  is  a  current  belief 
among  the  Eastern  nations  that  amber  is  incapable  of  trans- 
mitting infection. 

Every  Turkish  pasha  sets  his  pride  on  a  rich  collection  of 
pipes,  as  it  is  the  hospitable  custom  of  the  Orient  to  offer  a 
cup  of  coffee  and  a  hookah  or  tschibouque  to  a  stranger ;  and 
this  fashion  is  of  no  small  importance  to  the  amber-dealers 
of  the  Baltic.     A  somewhat  inferior  quality  is  sent  by  way 


USES    OF    AMBER.  457 

of  Copenhagen  and  London  to  China,  Japan,  and  to  the  East 
and  West  Indies. 

Russia  also  consumes  a  considerable  quantity  of  amber, 
which  is  very  elegantly  turnei  or  manufactured  in  St.  Peters- 
burg and  Polangen,  and  thence  finds  its  way  over  the  whole 
empire.  Here,  as  among  the  Turks,  only  the  translucent 
and  perfectly  opaque  white  qualities  are  esteemed ;  the  latter 
being  chiefly  employed  for  the  manufacture  of  the  calculating 
tables  which  are  commonly  used  by  the  Russian  merchants. 
Necklaces  of  transparent  amber  are  in  great  request  among 
the  peasantry  of  Hanover  and  Brunswick,  where  strings  of 
pale-coloured  crystalline  beads  weighing  from  half  a  pound 
to  a  pound  are  worth  from  fifty  to  sixty  dollars. 

Amber  of  a  deeper  colour  and  of  a  rounded  form  is  chiefly 
exported  to  Spain,  France,  and  Italy. 

Thus  each  country  chooses  according  to  its  taste  among 
the  abundant  amber-masses  which  extinct  forests  furnish  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Baltic  coast-lands,  and  which  trade, 
through  a  hundred  known  and  unknown  channels,  scatters 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe. 


4o8  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

MISCELLANEOUS    MINERAL    SUBSTANCES    USED    IN    THE 
INDUSTRIAL    ARTS. 

Alum — Alum  Mines  of  Tolfa —  Borax — The  Suffioni  in  the  Florentine  Lagoons- 
China  Clay:  how  formed?— Its  Manufacture  in  Cornwall — Plumbago— Emery 
— Tripolite. 

ALUM,  a  double  salt,  consisting  of  sulphate  of  alumina 
(the  peculiar  earth  of  clay)  and  sulphate  of  potash,  or 
sulphate  of  alumina  and  sulphate  of  ammonia,  was  known  to 
the  ancients,  who  used  it  in  medicine,  as  it  is  now  used,  and 
also  as  a  mordant  in  dyeing,  as  at  the  present  day.  Their 
alum  was  chiefly  a  natural  production,  which  was  best 
and  most  abundantly  obtained  in  Egypt.  In  later  times 
Phocis,  Lesbos,  and  other  places  supplied  the  Turks  with 
alum  for  their  magnificent  Turkey  red ;  and  the  Genoese 
merchants  imported  large  quantities  from  the  Levant  into 
Western  Europe  for  the  dyers  of  red  cloth.  In  1459  Bartho- 
lomew Perdix,  a  Genoese  merchant  who  had  been  in  Syria, 
observed  a  stone  suitable  for  alum  in  the  Island  of  Ischia, 
and  burning  it  with  a  good  result,  was  the  first  who  intro- 
duced the  manufacture  into  Europe.  About  the  same  time 
John  di  Castro  learnt  the  method  at  Constantinople,  and 
manufactured  alum  at  Tolfa.  This  discovery  of  the  mineral 
near  Civita  Vecchia  was  considered  so  important  by  John  di 
Castro  that  he  announced  it  to  the  Pope  as  a  great  victory 
over  the  Turks,  who  annually  took  from  the  Christians 
300,000  pieces  of  gold  for  their  dyed  wool.  The  manufacture 
of  alum  was  then  made  a  monopoly  of  the  Papacy ;  and  in- 
stead of  buying  it  as  before  from  the  East,  it  was  considered 
a  Christian  duty  to  obtain  it  only  from  the  States  of  the 
Church.     With  the  progress  of  Protestantism,  however,  the 


ALUM-STONE    AND    BORAX.  459 

manufacture  began  to  spread  to  other  countries.  Hesse- 
Cassel  began  to  make  alum  in  1554,  and  in  1600  alum  slate 
was  found  near  Whitby  in  Yorkshire. 

Alum-stone  is  a  rare  mineral,  which  contains  all  the 
elements  of  the  salt,  but  mixed  with  other  matters  from 
which  it  must  be  freed.  For  this  purpose  it  is  first  calcined, 
then  exposed  to  the  weather,  in  heaps  from  two  to  three  feet 
high,  which  are  continually  kept  moist  by  sprinkling  them 
with  water.  As  the  water  combines  with  the  alum,  the 
stones  crumble  down  and  fall  eventually  into  a  pasty  mass, 
which  must  be  lixiviated  with  warm  water,  and  allowed  to 
settle  in  a  large  cistern.  The  clear  liquor  on  the  surface, 
being  drawn  off,  is  to  be  evaporated  and  then  crystallised.  A 
second  crystallisation  finishes  the  process,  and  furnishes  a 
marketable  article.  Thus  the  Eoman  alum  is  made  ;  but  its 
production  being  far  from  enough  for  the  supply  of  the 
world,  the  greater  portion  of  the  alum  found  in  British 
commerce  is  made  from  alum -slate  and  analogous  minerals, 
wdiich  contain  only  the  elements  of  two  of  the  constituents, 
namely,  clay  and  sulphur,  and  to  which,  therefore,  the  alka- 
line ingredient  must  be  added. 

Borax,  or  Borate  of  Soda,  is  a  substance  extensively  used 
in  the  glazes  of  porcelain,  and  recently  in  the  making  of  the 
most  brilliant  crystal  when  combined  with  oxide  of  zinc. 
Formerly  its  chief  supply  was  obtained  under  the  name  of 
Tincal,  from  Thibet,  where  the  crude  product  was  dug  in 
masses  from  the  edges  and  shallow  parts  of  a  salt  lake ;  and, 
in  the  course  of  a  short  time,  the  holes  thus  made  were  again 
filled.  Crude  borax  is  also  found  in  China,  Persia,  the 
Island  of  Ceylon,  and  in  South  America ;  but  at  present  by 
far  the  largest  quantity  used  in  commerce  is  derived  from 
the  lagoons  of  Tuscany,  where  vapours  charged  with  a  minute 
quantity  of  boracic  acid  rise  from  volcanic  vents. 

Before  the  discovery  of  this  acid,  in  the  time  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Leopold  I.,  by  the  chemist  Hoefer,  the  fetid  odour 
developed  by  the  accompanying  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas, 
and  the  disruptions  of  the  ground  occasioned  by  the  appear- 
ance of  new  suffioni  or  vents  of  vapour,  had  made  the  super- 
stitious natives  regard  them  as  a  diabolical  scourge,  which 
they  vainly  sought  to  remove  by  priestly  exorcisms  ;  but  since 


460  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

1818  the  skill,  or  rather  the  industrial  genius,  of  Count 
Larderel,  originally  a  simple  wandering  merchant,  has  ren- 
dered these  once  abhorred  fugitive  vapours  a  source  of  pro- 
sperity to  the  country,  and  were  they  to  cease,  all  the  saints 
of  the  calendar  would  be  invoked  for  their  return. 

By  a  most  ingenious  contrivance  the  waters  which  have 
been  impregnated  by  the  volcanic  steams  are  concentrated 
in  leaden  reservoirs  by  the  heat  of  the  vapours  themselves. 
The  liquid,  after  having  filled  the  first  compartment,  is 
diffused  very  gradually  into  the  second,  then  into  the  third, 
and  successively  to  the  last,  where  it  reaches  such  a  state  of 
concentration  that  it  deposits  the  crystallised  acid,  which  the 
workmen  immediately  remove  by  means  of  wooden  scrapers. 
As  this  mode  of  gradual  concentration  requires  very  few 
hands  and  no  artificial  heat,  a  circumstance  of  great  import- 
ance in  a  country  without  fuel,  it  may  almost  be  said  that 
the  acid  is  obtained  without  expense.  The  produce  of 
the  lagoons  amounts  to  more  than  2,000  tons  annually. 

China-clay,  or  kaolin,  a  substance  largely  used  for  the 
fabrication  of  porcelain  and  in  paper-making,  is  quarried 
from  amidst  the  granitic  masses  of  Dartmoor  and  Cornwall. 
It  results  from  the  decomposition  of  felspar,  the  chief  con- 
stituent of  granite,  and  is  thus,  to  a  certain  point,  provided 
by  Nature.  As  it  is,  however,  mixed  with  many  grosser 
particles,  it  requires  repeated  washings  in  a  series  of  small 
pits  or  tanks,  until  finally  the  water,  still  holding  in  sus- 
pension the  finer  and  purer  china-clay,  is  admitted  into 
larger  ponds.  Here  the  clay  is  gradually  deposited,  and  the 
clear  water  on  the  surface  is  from  time  to  time  discharged 
by  plug-holes  on  one  side  of  the  pond.  This  process  is  con- 
tinued until  by  repeated  accumulations  the  ponds  are  filled. 
The  clay  is  then  removed  to  large  pans  about  a  foot  and  a 
half  in  depth,  where  it  remains  exposed  to  the  air  until  it  is 
nearly  dry — a  tedious  operation  in  our  damn  climate,  as 
during  the  winter  at  least  eight  months  are  necessary,  whilst 
during  the  summer  less  than  half  the  time  suffices. 

When  the  clay  is  in  a  fit  state  it  is  cut  into  oblong  masses 
and  carried  to  the  drying-house,  a  shed  the  sides  of  which 
are  open  wooden  frames  constructed  in  the  usual  way  for 
keeping  oft*  the  rain,  but  admitting  the  free  passage  of  the 


KAOLIN.  461 

air.  The  clay  thus  prepared  is  next  scraped  perfectly  clean, 
and  is  then  packed  up  into  casks  and  carried  to  one  of  the 
adjacent  ports,  to  be  shipped  for  the  potteries  or  the  paper 
manufactories.  It  is  of  a  beautiful  and  uniform  whiteness, 
and  is  perfectly  smooth  and  soft  to  the  touch. 

China-clay  is  an  important  article  of  commerce.  The  ave- 
rage annual  production  of  Cornwall  and  Devonshire  amounts 
to  105,000  tons,  and  it  is  reckoned  that  more  than  200,000/. 
is  annually  spent  in  Cornwall  in  obtaining  and  preparing  it. 

As  in  our  times  no  branch  of  industry  remains  unim- 
proved, a  machine  has  recently  been  invented  which  greatly 
accelerates  the  drying.  The  lumps  of  china-clay  are  placed 
in  the  compartments  of  the  drying  machine,  and  the  whole 
is  then  rotated  with  great  velocity.  Thus  the  water  is 
thrown  off  by  the  operation  of  the  centrifugal  force,  and  two 
tons  of  clay  can  be  dried  in  five  minutes. 

The  remarkable  contrast  between  the  extreme  hardness 
and  softness  of  the  same  primitive  rock  is  a  curiosity  of 
geology  well  worth  notice.  '  A  stone,'  says  the  author  of 
c  Cornwall  and  its  Mines,'  '  is  primevally  fused  and  cooled  into 
as  hard  a  substance  as  nature  affords ;  so  hard  that  it  paves 
our  streets  in  long  enduring  slabs  and  blocks.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  feet  passing  daily  over  it  make  no  impression 
upon  it.  Years  of  travel  only  see  it  smooth  and  shining. 
The  men  who  pass  over  it  pass  away,  but  it  is  still  durable 
and  unsoftened.  Halls  and  mansions,  clubs  and  palaces, 
are  built  of  it,  and  it  endures  unmarked  by  Time's  devouring 
tooth.  Is  it  not  adamantine  ?  But  lo  !  what  is  that  elegant 
cup  from  which  you  are  sipping  your  tea  9  It  is  of  Worces- 
tershire china,  fine  and  almost  pellucid.  Well,  it  is  made 
out  of  the  soft  ruins  of  that  very  granite  whose  endurance  is 
proverbial.  How  remarkable  that  the  best  types  of  firmness 
and  fragility  should  be  found  in  the  same  stone  !  What  the 
immense  billows  of  the  Atlantic  are  now  beating  upon,  at  the 
Land's  End,  without  effect,  that  very  substance  has  been 
found  in  such  a  friable  natural  condition  as  to  be  finally 
moulded  into  that  vase  which  stands,  elegant  and  admired, 
upon  your  mantelpiece,  and  which  one  puff  of  wind,  or  one 
whirl  of  a  lady's  silk  dress,  would  dash  down  into  innumer- 
able and  unmendable  fragments.' 


462  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WOULD. 

Valuable  kaolins  are  likewise  found  in  China  and  Japan, 
in  Saxony  and  France ;  but  the  production  is  nowhere  so 
extensive  as  in  Cornwall. 

The  best  quality  of  Plumbago,  graphite,  or  black-lead, 
from  which  the  finest  lead-pencils  were  made,  was  formerly 
abundantly  supplied  by  the  mine  of  Borrowdale  in  Cumber- 
land. At  one  time  as  much  as  100,000£.  was  realised  in  a 
year,  the  plumbago  selling  at  forty-five  shillings  per  pound. 
Its  high  value,  however,  proved  a  source  of  loss  to  the  pro- 
prietors, for  robbery  found  here  a  most  profitable  field.  Even 
the  guard  stationed  over  it  by  the  owners  was  of  little  avail 
against  determined  thieves,  for  about  a  century  ago  a  body 
of  miners  broke  into  the  mines  by  main  force,  and  held  pos- 
session of  it  for  a  considerable  time.  The  treasure  was  then 
protected  by  a  building  consisting  of  four  rooms  upon  the 
ground  floor,  and  immediately  under  one  of  them  is  the 
opening,  secured  by  a  trapdoor,  through  which  alone  work- 
men could  enter  the  interior  of  the  mountain.  The  mine 
has  now,  however,  not  been  worked  for  many  years.  Its 
6  nests  '  of  plumbago  seem  to  be  exhausted,  and  it  is  no  longer 
an  object  capable  of  exciting  greed,  or  worthy  of  anxious 
protection.  At  present  the  mines  of  Batougal,  near  Irkutsk 
in  East  Siberia,  furnish  large  quantities  of  graphite  of  the 
very  best  quality ;  and  the  plumbago  from  Ceylon  is  likewise 
highly  esteemed.  Inferior  qualities — employed  for  counter- 
acting friction  between  rubbing  surfaces  of  wood  or  metal, 
for  making  crucibles  and  portable  furnaces,  for  giving  a 
gloss  to  the  surface  of  cast  iron,  &c.  &c. — are  supplied  by 
Lower  Austria,  Bohemia,  Bavaria,  Ticonderago  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Arendal  in  Norway,  Finland, 
&c.  &c. 

The  name  black-lead  applied  to  plumbago,  from  its  resem- 
bling lead  in  its  external  appearance,  is  very  inappropriate, 
as  not  a  particle  of  that  metal  enters  into  its  composition. 
Plumbago  might  indeed  more  justly  be  called  black-diamond, 
for,  consisting,  in  its  pure  state,  of  carbon,  it  is  consequently 
but  another  form  of  the  chief  of  precious  stones. 

The  beautiful  oriental  ruby  has  likewise  a  humble  cousin 
among  the  useful  minerals,  as  it  is  identical  in  composition 
with  Emery,  which,  since  the  remotest  antiquity,  has   been 


EMERY    AXD    TRi POLITE.  463 

employed  for  the  grinding  of  metals  and  glass.  Emery  was 
formerly  almost  exclusively  furnished  by  the  island  of  Naxos  ; 
but  since  1847  new  mines  have  been  discovered  in  some  other 
isles  of  the  Grecian  Archipelago,  and  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Smyrna,  from  which  place  it  is  now  imported  in  large 
quantities.  In  1850  the  total  production  of  the  East 
amounted  to  1,500  tons.  In  18(>4  a  considerable  mine  of 
emery  was  discovered  at  Chester  (Hampden  County,  Massa- 
chusetts), and  as  might  be  expected  in  a  country  where  none 
of  the  gifts  of  nature  are  allowed  to  be  wasted,  already  pro- 
vides for  the  wants  of  all  the  manufactories  of  the  United 
States. 

Tripolite,  a  mineral  related  to  the  precious  opal,  as  it 
consists  almost  entirely  of  silica,  is  likewise  used  for  polish- 
ing stones,  metals,  and  glasses.  Its  composition  is  traily 
remarkable,  as  it  is  actually  formed  of  the  exuviae,  or 
rather  the  flinty  envelopes  of  diatoms,  which  belong  to  the 
minutest  forms  of  vegetable  life.  They  are  recognised  with 
such  distinctness  in  the  microscope  that  the  analogies  be- 
tween them  and  living  species  may  be  readily  traced,  and  in 
many  cases  there  are  no  appreciable  differences  between  the 
living  and  the  petrified.  As  every  cubic  inch  of  tripolite 
contains  millions  of  these  exuvise,  and  the  stone  not  seldom 
occurs  in  deposits  often  many  miles  in  area,  imagination  is 
at  a  loss  to  conceive  the  innumerable  multitudes  of  organised 
atoms  whose  flinty  remains  have  been  piled  up  in  these  masses 
of  hard  rock. 


4C4  TDK    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVIII. 

CELEBRATED     QUARRIES. 

Carrara — The  Pentelikon—  The  Parian  Quarries — Rosso  antico  and  Verde  antico — 
The  Porphyry  of  Elfdal— The  Gypsum  of  Montmartre— The  Alabaster  of  Vol- 
terra — The  Slate  Quarries  of  Wales — '  Princesses  '  and  '  Duchesses  ' — '  Ladies ' 
and  '  Fat  Ladies ' — St.  Peter's  Mount  near  Maestricht — Egyptian  Quarries — 
Haggar  Silsilis— The  Latomise  of  Syracuse — A  Triumph  of  Poetry. 

BESIDES  metals,  and  the  various  minerals  mentioned  in 
the  previous  chapter,  the  solid  earth-rind  furnishes  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  marbles,  slates,  and  stones  for 
building  or  paving;  and  their  extraction  occupies  a  vast 
number  of  industrious  hands. 

In  a  popular  work  on  geology,  published  some  years  ago, 
Mr.  Burat  informs  us  that  about  70,000  persons  were  em- 
ployed in  the  18,000  more  or  less  important  quarries  at  that 
time  worked  in  France,  and  that  the  produce  of  their  labour 
amounted  to  a  value  of  more  than  2,000,000^. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  quarries  of  England  or 
Germany  are  at  least  equally  productive,  and  thus  a  very 
moderate  estimate  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
quarries  of  Europe,  from  those  which  furnish  the  costliest 
marble  to  those  which  yield  the  commonest  building- stone, 
employ  at  least  half  a  million  of  workmen,  and  produce  an 
annual  value  of  no  less  than  12,000,000L,  a  sum  which  is 
probably  doubled  or  trebled  before  the  heavy  materials  can 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  consumer.  A  land  ribbed  with 
stone,  like  England,  has  therefore  a  considerable  advantage 
over  a  flat  alluvial  plain,  like  Holland,  as  it  possesses  in  its 
rocky  foundations  a  source  of  wealth  which  nature  has  denied 
to  the  latter. 

Though  several  other  stones,  such  as  granite  and  porphyry, 


CARRARA    MARBLE    QUARRIES.  4G5 

are  susceptible  of  a  fine  polished  surface,  and  serve  for  the 
decoration  of  palaces  and  churches,  yet  marble  or  pure 
compact  limestone  is  chiefly  used  for  ornamental  purposes, 
both  on  account  of  its  beautifully  variegated  tints,  and  its 
inferior  hardness,  which  allows  it  to  be  more  easily  worked. 
Our  Derbyshire  and  Devonshire  quarries  supply  a  great 
variety  of  richly  coloured  marbles ;  but  the  best  material 
for  the  sculptor  is  supplied  by  the  limestone  mountains 
of  Carrara,  which  furnish  a  homogeneous  marble  of  the 
purest  white,  with  a  fine  granular  texture,  resembling 
that  of  loaf  sugar.  These  far-famed  quarries,  which  were 
worked  by  the  ancients,  having  been  opened  in  the  time 
of  Julius  Csesar,  are  situated  between  Spezzia  and  Lucca, 
in  the  Alpe  Apuana,  a  small  mountain-group  no  less  re- 
markable for  its  bold  and  sharp  outlines  than  for  its 
almost  total  isolation  from  the  monotonous  chain  of  the 
Apennines,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  a  wide  semi- 
circular plain.  Where  the  Alpe  Apuana  faces  the  sea,  it  is 
chiefly  formed  of  magnesian  and  glimmer  slate,  in  which 
large  masses  of  limestone  are  imbedded  ;  but  the  more  inland 
part  of  the  group  belongs  entirely  to  the  limestone  forma- 
tion, and  abounds  in  romantic  scenery  and  noble  peaks 
towering  to  a  height  of  six  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  Towards  its  north-western  extremity  rises 
Monte  Sacro  (5,200  feet  in  height),  the  famous  marble 
mountain  on  whose  slopes  are  scattered  the  quarries  to 
which  the  small  town  of  Carrara  owes  its  ancient  and  world- 
wide celebrity. 

The  quarries  themselves  by  no  means  afford  an  imposing 
sight,  as  they  are  mostly  small,  and  very  badly  worked ;  but 
it  is  interesting  to  watch  the  transport  of  the  huge  blocks  of 
superb  material  from  the  various  glens  in  which  the  quarries 
are  situated,  while  the  numerous  water-mills  for  cutting  or 
polishing  the  marble  enliven  the  whole  neighbourhood. 

In  the  town  of  Carrara  numerous  sculptors  are  constantly 
employed  in  rough-hewing  the  marble  into  various  forms, 
such  as  capitals,  friezes,  busts,  &c,  &c,  in  order  to  diminish 
the  cost  of  transport,  or  to  discover  faults  in  the  stone  before 
it  is  shipped.  There  are  also  shops  where  marble  trinkets  or 
ornaments  are  exposed  for  sale  ;  but  Florence,  Leghorn,  and 

H  H 


466  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Genoa  are  the  chief  depots  of  ready-made  marble  articles, 
such  as  vases,  "urns,  sculptured  chimney-pieces,  and  copies  of 
renowned  statues.  Different  kinds  of  fruit  are  also  executed 
in  marble,  and  with  the  aid  of  colour  made  to  imitate  nature 
so  closely  as  to  deceive  the  eye. 

In  Carrara  the  inferior  qualities  of  marble  are  used  for 
building  and  paving",  as  it  is  here  the  cheapest  material.  The 
window  and  door  frames,  the  flooring  and  the  chimney  slabs, 
in  even  the  meanest  houses,  are  made  of  marble,  and  form  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  squalid  poverty  of  the  remainder  of 
the  furniture. 

The  quarries  which  furnished  the  material  for  the  finest 
works  of  the  Grecian  chisel  partake  of  the  interest  which 
attaches  to  every  vestige  of  ancient  art. 

About  eight  miles  to  the  north  of  Athens  rises  the  Pente- 
likon,  or  Mount  Penteles,  from  whose  flanks  was  excavated 
the  marble  that  served  for  the  construction  of  the  Parthenon, 
of  the  Temple  of  the  Olympian  Zeus,  and  of  the  other  match- 
less edifices  of  the  Athenian  Acropolis.  No  other  quarries 
in  the  world  can  boast  of  their  material  having  undergone  a 
more  beautiful  transformation,  for  never  has  marble  been 
more  highly  ennobled  than  by  the  genius  of  Pheidias  !  The 
ancient  roads  ascending  from  the  foot  of  the  mountain  to 
the  quarries  still  show  the  traces  of  the  sledges  on  which 
were  transported  the  huge  blocks  of  more  than  twenty  tons 
in  weight  that  now  lie  scattered  among  the  ruins  of  the 
Acropolis. 

On  the  summit  of  the  Pentelikon  the  Athenians  had  placed 
a  statue  of  Pallas  Athene,  that  the  goddess  might  overlook 
the  land  devoted  to  her  worship.  Here,  from  a  height 
of  3,500  feet,  she  looked  down  upon  the  plain  of  Marathon, 
and  many  other  spots  of  everlasting  renown;  but  the  out- 
lines of  the  prospect  are  monotonous  and  naked,  and  require 
for  their  embellishment  the  beautifying  remembrances  of  the 
past. 

Mount  Marpena,  in  the  island  of  Paros,  furnished  the  most 
renowned  statuary  marble  of  ancient  times.  It  was  called 
Lychnites  because  its  quarries  were  worked  by  lamp-light,  in 
deep,  minelike  excavations ;  and  the  difficulty  and  cost  of  its 
extraction  show  how  highly  it  was  prized.    It  has  a  yellowish 


GREEK   MARBLES    AND    SWEDISH    PORPHYRY.  467 

white  colour  and  a  texture  composed  of  fine  shining  scales 
lying  in  all  directions.  The  celebrated  Arundelian  marbles 
at  Oxford  consist  of  Parian  marble,  as  does  also  the  Medicean 
Venus.  More  than  twenty  centuries  have  elapsed  since  the 
Parian  quarries  were  abandoned  in  consequence  of  the  decay 
of  Grecian  art ;  but  in  our  enterprising  days  a  company  has 
been  formed  (1857)  for  working  the  beautiful  marble  which 
has  been  recently  discovered  near  St.  Minas,  not  far  from  the 
site  of  the  ancient  quarries,  and  is  said  to  be  superior  not 
only  to  that  of  Carrara  but  even  to  the  renowned  Lychnites 
of  the  ancients. 

The  quarries  which  in  olden  times  furnished  the  beautifully 
coloured  marbles  called  Rosso  antico  and  Verde  antico  had 
likewise  for  many  centuries  been  abandoned  and  totally  for- 
gotten. In  1846  they  were  rediscovered  on  the  island  of 
Tino  and  in  the  Maina  by  Professor  Siegel,  who  soon  after 
undertook  to  work  them,  and  has  furnished,  among  others,  a 
large  number  of  the  beautiful  columns  of  Rosso  antico  which 
decorate  the  interior  of  the  court  of  the  basilica  of  St.  Paul's 
in  Rome.  The  hammer  of  the  quarryman  once  more  re- 
sounds in  the  wilds  of  the  Taygetos,  and  the  lawless  robber 
of  the  Maina  already  feels  the  beneficial  influence  of  industry. 

On  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  which  bound  the  impetuous 
Oesterdal  Elbe  in  Sweden,  in  a  wild  and  desolate  country, 
where  the  poverty  of  the  people  is  so  great  that  they  fre- 
quently grind  the  bark  of  fir-trees  to  mix  it  with  their  bread, 
are  situated  the  finest  quarries  of  porphyry  which  Europe 
possesses.  This  beautiful  stone,  which  attracts  the  eye  even 
in  its  unpolished  state,  consists  of  a  red- brown  or  blood-red 
mass,  in  which  numerous  small  flesh-coloured  felspar  pieces 
are  embedded.  After  having  been  rough-hewn  on  the  spot, 
the  blocks  are  transported  to  the  neighbouring  works  of 
Elfdal,  where  they  are  cut  and  polished  into  slabs,  vases, 
chimney-pieces,  and  other  articles  fit  for  the  decoration  of 
palaces.  The  contrast  is  most  striking  when,  after  having 
traversed  the  barren  neighbourhood,  and  still  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  sight  of  poverty  and  distress  on  his 
road,  the  traveller  suddenly  finds  himself  before  a  group 
of  handsome  buildings  which  at  once  bear  witness  to  the 
activity  within. 

H  h  2 


468  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

Besides  the  red  porphyry  of  Elfdal,  that  of  the  Altai 
Mountains  in  Asia  deserves  to  be  noticed.  It  consists  of  a 
brown-red  mass  with  snow-white  crystals,  and  is  capable  of  a 
very  fine  polish.  The  quarries  are  situated  on  the  face  of  a 
high  rock  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Kurgun,  one  of  the  wildest 
mountain  streams  of  the  Altai,  about  one  hundred  miles  from 
the  town  of  Kolywansk,  where  it  is  cut  and  polished. 

Gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime,  and  the  peculiar  form  of  that 
mineral  called  Alabaster,  are  substances  of  considerable  im- 
portance in  the  arts.  Rendered  more  valuable  by  a  slight 
admixture  of  carbonate  of  lime,  the  gypsum  of  Montmartre, 
near  Paris,  has  long  been  celebrated  for  its  excellence  as  a 
cement  or  stucco.  It  is  found  resting  on  a  limestone  of 
marine  origin,  and  in  some  places  appears  immediately 
beneath  the  vegetable  soil,  so  that  it  can  be  readily  and  con- 
veniently worked  without  having  recourse  to  subterranean 
excavation.  These  quarries  furnish  the  whole  of  northern 
France  with  the  well-known  plaster  of  Paris,  and  the  value 
of  their  annual  produce  amounts  to  not  less  than  100,000?. 

When  sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum  assumes  the  opaque, 
consistent,  and  semi-transparent  form  of  alabaster,  it  is 
worked  like  marble.  The  pure  white  and  harder  varieties 
are  usually  employed  for  the  sculpture  of  statues  and  busts  ; 
while  the  softer  kinds  are  cut  into  vases,  boxes,  lamps,  and 
other  ornamental  objects.  The  alabaster  quarries  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  ancient  Etruscan  town  of  Yolterra  are 
the  most  famous  in  Europe,  and  have  afforded  employment 
for  many  centuries  to  her  industrious  population.  Volterra 
exports  her  beautiful  produce  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  even 
as  far  as  the  interior  of  China.  Beggary  is  here  unknown  (a 
rare  case  in  Italy),  for  even  women  and  children  are  all 
employed  in  cutting,  sawing,  rasping,  or  filing  alabaster.  In 
the  remotest  antiquity,  when  the  city  was  still  called  Vola- 
thri  or  Yolaterrse,  this  industry  was  practised  within  her 
walls,  and  a  collection  of  sepulchral  urns  and  other  works  of 
Etruscan  art  contained  in  the  town-hall  bears  testimony  to 
her  ancient  skill.  Now,  however,  art  seems  to  have  degene- 
rated into  mere  manufacturing  ability;  the  statues  and 
other  objects  are  almost  always  repetitions  of  the  same 
models,  and  but  very  rarely  some  speculative  person  introduces 


DERBYSHIRE   SPAR.  469 

a  novelty,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  somewhat  higher 
price  for  his  wares. 

Great  Britain  possesses  apparently  inexhaustible  quan- 
tities of  alabaster  in  the  red  marl  formation  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Derby,  where  it  has  been  worked  for  many 
centuries.  The  great  bulk  of  it  is  used  for  making  plaster 
of  Paris,  and  as  a  manure,  or  as  the  basis  of  many  kinds  of 
cements.  For  these  common  industrial  purposes  it  is  worked 
by  mining  underground,  and  the  stone  is  blasted  by  gun- 
powder ;  but  this  shakes  it  so  much  as  to  render  it  unfit  for 
works  of  ornament,  to  procure  blocks  for  which  it  is  necessary 
to  have  an  open  quarry.  By  removing  the  superincumbent 
marl,  and  laying  bare  a  large  surface  of  the  rock,  the 
alabaster,  being  very  irregular  in  form,  and  jutting  out  in 
several  parts,  can  be  sawn  out  in  blocks  of  a  considerable  size 
and  comparatively  sound.  This  stone,  when  preserved  from 
the  action  of  water,  which  soon  decomposes  it,  is  ex- 
tremely durable,  as  may  be  seen  in  churches  all  over  this 
country,  where  monumental  effigies  many  centuries  old  are 
still  as  perfect  as  when  they  proceeded  from  the  sculptor's 
chisel.  The  Derbyshire  alabaster,  commonly  called  Derby- 
shire spar,  gives  employment  to  a  good  many  hands  in 
forming  it  into  useful  and  ornamental  articles.  Another 
kind  of  alabaster  also  found  in  Derbyshire  is  crystallised  in 
long  needlelike  silky  fibres,  which,  being  susceptible  of  a 
high  polish  and  quite  lustrous,  is  used  for  making  necklaces, 
bracelets,  brooches,  and  other  small  articles. 

Besides  her  inexhaustible  coal,  iron,  and  lead  mines, 
Wales  possesses  in  her  slate  quarries  a  great  source  of 
mineral  wealth.  For  this  article,  which  many  would  suppose 
to  be  but  of  secondary  importance,  is  here  found  in  such 
abundanceand  perfection  as  to  command  a  ready  market 
all  over  the  world.  Thus,  in  North  Wales  the  face  of  the 
mountains  is  everywhere  dotted  or  scarred  with  slate 
quarries,  of  which  by  far  the  most  important  and  largest 
are  those  of  Llandegui,  six  miles  from  Bangor,  in  which 
more  than  three  thousand  persons  are  employed.  This 
circumstance  alone  will  give  an  idea  of  their  extent, 
but  still  more  their  having  their  own  harbour,  Port 
Penrhyn,    which  holds   vessels    of  from   300    to   400    tons. 


470  THE    SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

and  whence  slates  are  sent  not  only  to  all  parts  of  Great 
Britain,  but  even  to  North  America.  The  cost  of  the  in- 
clined planes  and  railroads  which  serve  to  transport  the 
slates  from  the  quarries  to  the  port  is  said  to  have  amounted 
to  170,000Z.  The  masses  of  slate  are  either  detached  from 
the  rock  by  blasting,  or  by  wedges  and  crowbars.  They  are 
then  shaped  on  the  spot  into  the  various  forms  for  which 
they  are  destined  to  be  used. 

Though  the  quarries  of  Llandegui  are  unrivalled,  yet 
there  are  others  which  give  employment  to  workmen  whose 
numbers  range  from  a  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred.  In 
those  that  export  their  produce  by  way  of  Carnarvon,  which 
owes  its  prosperity  almost  entirely  to  this  branch  of  industry, 
about  2,300  men  were  employed  in  the  year  1842,  and  since 
then  their  number  has  very  much  increased.  Walking  on 
the  handsome  new  quay  of  the  town,  the  visitor  everywhere 
sees  slates  ready  for  shipment  in  the  numerous  small  vessels 
which  crowd  the  picturesque  harbour.  They  are  heaped  up 
and  arranged  or  sorted  in  large  regular  piles  according  to 
their  dimensions  or  quality,  the  '  ladies '  and  '  fat  ladies ' 
apart,  as  also  the  *  countesses/  '  marchionesses,'  *  princesses,' 
'  duchesses,'  and  '  queens,'  for  by  these  aristocratic  names  the 
slate  merchants  distinguish  the  various  sizes  of  the  humble 
article  they  deal  in. 

Kohl,  the  celebrated  traveller,  remarks  that,  whenever  a 
new  branch  of  industry  springs  up  in  England,  a  number  of 
active  hands  and  inventive  heads  set  to  work  to  extend  its 
application.  This  was  also  the  case  with  the  Welsh  slates, 
when,  about  half  a  century  ago,  they  first  began  to  attract  the 
notice  of  the  commercial  world.  A  polish  was  soon  invented 
in  London  which  gave  them  the  appearance  of  the  finest 
black  marble.  As  they  are  easily  worked  with  the  aid  of  a 
turning  lathe,  they  can  thus  be  used  for  the  manufacture  of 
many  useful  and  ornamental  articles,  which  have  all  the 
lustre  of  ebony,  and  may  be  obtained  at  a  much  cheaper 
rate. 

The  quarries  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  near  Maestricht  in 
the  Netherlands,  are  probably  the  most  extensive  in  Europe. 
Eor  the  white  tufaceous  limestone  of  the  mountain  has  been 
used  from  time  immemorial  both  for  building  and  manuring, 


SLATE   QUARRIES    OF   MAESTRICHT.  471 

and  the  enormous  extent  of  its  caverns  is  perhaps  even 
owing  in  a  greater  measure  to  the  agriculturist  than  to  the 
architect.  And  yet  St.  Peter's  Mount,  situated  near  a  town 
of  moderate  extent,  would  hardly  have  been  excavated 
beyond  the  limits  of  a  common  quarry  if  the  broad  Meuse, 
flowing  at  its  foot,  had  not  opened  towards  Holland  an 
almost  unlimited  market  for  its  produce.  Sure  of  being  able 
to  dispose  of  all  the  materials  they  can  possibly  extract  from 
the  earth,  the  quarrymen  of  the  neighbourhood  are  thus 
yearly  adding  new  passages  to  the  labyrinths  at  which  so  many 
generations  of  their  forefathers  have  toiled  from  age  to  age. 

In  spring  and  summer  they  are  mostly  occupied  with 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  then  but  rarely  leave  the  light  of 
day  to  burrow  in  the  entrails  of  the  earth  by  the  dismal 
*  sheen '  of  smoky  lamps ;  but  as  soon  as  the  approach  of 
winter  puts  a  stop  to  the  labours  of  the  field,  they  descend 
into  the  cavities  of  the  mountain,  and  begin  to  excavate  the 
vast  mounds  of  stone  or  grit  which  are  to  be  shipped  in  the 
following  spring. 

Accompanied  by  a  guide,  the  stranger  enters  these 
amazing  quarries,  that  extend  for  miles  into  the  interior  of 
the  mountain,  and  is  soon  lost  in  wronder  at  their  endless 
passages,  perpetually  crossing  each  other  to  the  right  and 
left,  and  ending  in  utter  darkness.  The  dismal  grandeur  of 
these  dark  regions  is  increased  by  their  awful  silence,  for 
but  rarely  a  drop  of  water  falls  from  the  vaults  into  a  small 
pool  below,  and  even  the  voice  of  man  dies  away  without 
awakening  an  echo. 

But  in  order  to  make  one  feel  the  full  impression  of  night 
and  silence,  the  guide,  after  penetrating  to  some  distance 
into  the  interior  of  the  cave,  extinguishes  his  torch.  A 
strange  sensation  of  awe  then  creeps  over  the  boldest  heart, 
and  by  an  almost  irresistible  instinct  the  stranger  seeks  the 
nearest  wall,  as  if  to  convince  himself  that  he  has  at  least 
the  sense  of  touch  to  depend  upon  where  the  eye  vainly  seeks 
for  the  least  ray  of  light,  and  the  ear  as  vainly  listens  for  a 
sound.  Then  also  he  feels  how  dreadful  must  have  been  the 
agonies  of  the  despairing  wretches  who,  having  lost  their 
way  in  these  dark  labyrinths,  prayed  and  wept  and  shouted 
in  vain,  until  their  last  groans  died  away  unheard. 


472  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

It  has  not  seldom  happened  that  persons  have  hopelessly 
strayed  about  in  these  vast  caverns,  and  there  slowly  perished, 
while  but  a  few  fathoms  above  the  labourer  was  driving  his 
plough  forward  or  the  reaper  singing  his  evening  song. 
In  several  parts  of  the  caverns  an  inscription  on  the  walls 
points  out  where  and  under  what  circumstances  a  corpse 
has  been  found,  or  a  few  traces  of  black  chalk  give  a  rude 
portrait  of  the  victim.  Here  we  read  the  short  story  of  a 
workman  who,  losing  his  way,  roamed  about  till  the  last 
glimmer  from  his  torch  died  out  in  his  burnt  fingers  ;  there 
that  of  another  whose  lamp  by  some  chance  was  overturned, 
and  who,  plunged  in  sudden  darkness,  was  no  longer  able  to 
find  his  way  out  of  some  remote  passage. 

The  French  geologist,  Faujas  de  Saint- Fond,  who,  in  the 
year  1798  minutely  explored  the  Mount,  relates  that  one 
day  the  torches  that  were  carried  before  him  discovered  at 
some  distance  a  dark  object  stretched  out  upon  the  floor, 
which  on  a  closer  inspection  proved  to  be  a  corpse.  It 
was  a  shrivelled  mummy,  completely  dressed,  the  hat  lying 
close  to  the  head,  the  shoes  separated  from  the  feet,  and 
a  rosary  in  its  hand.  From  the  dress  Faujas  conjectured 
it  to  be  the  body  of  a.  workman,  and  perhaps  more  than 
half  a  century  might  have  passed  since  the  poor  man  died 
in  the  quarry  which  had  probably  given  him  bread  for 
many  a  year.  The  dry  air,  and  the  total  absence  of  insects 
in  these  subterranean  vaults,  explained  the  mummy-like 
preservation  of  the  corpse. 

In  the  year  1640  four  Franciscan  monks  resolved,  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God  and  of  their  tutelary  saint,  to  construct 
a  chapel  in  a  deserted  part  of  the  caverns.  Taking  with  them 
a  thick  pack  of  thread,  they  attached  one  end  of  it  to  a  spot 
where  the  trodden  path  ceased,  and  penetrating  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  unknown  vaults  as  long  as  their  thread  lasted, 
finally  came  to  a  larger  cavity  or  hall,  which  had  probably 
not  been  visited  for  centuries,  but  which  in  consequence 
of  their  misfortune  has  since  become  one  of  the  show-places 
of  the  quarry.  At  the  entrance  one  of  them  drew  with  a 
piece  of  coal  a  still  existing  sketch  of  his  convent  on  the 
wall,  and  wrote  underneath  the  date  of  the  discovery  which 
was  to  be  so  fatal  to  him  and  his  companions.     What  must 


PETRIFACTIONS    IN    CALCAREOUS    TUFF.  473 

have  been  their  dismay  when,  wishing  to  retrace  their  steps, 
they  discovered  that,  by  some  accident,  the  thread  which 
alone  could  lead  them  out  of  the  labyrinth  had  been 
severed,  and  that  they  were  left  without  guide  or  compass 
in  the  inextricable  maze  of  the  caverns.  The  prior, 
alarmed  at  their  prolonged  absence,  and  knowing  that 
they  had  visited  the  quarries,  ordered  them  to  be  sought 
for.  But  such  is  the  vast  extent  of  the  excavations  that 
it  was  only  after  seven  days  that  their  corpses  were 
found,  lying  closely  together,  their  faces  downwards  and 
their  hands  folded,  as  if  their  last  moments  had  been  spent 
in  prayer. 

The  caverns  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  generally  devoted  only 
to  the  pacific  labours  of  the  quarryman  or  to  unbroken 
silence,  have  once  been  the  scene  of  a  bloody  fight ;  and  as 
the  quiet  waters  of  the  Todtensee,  on  the  heights  of  the 
Grimsel,  have  witnessed  a  sanguinary  battle  between  the 
French  and  the  Russians,  so  these  subterranean  vaults  have 
once  resounded  with  the  din  of  fire-arms  and  the  shouts 
of  embittered  enemies. 

During  the  siege  above  mentioned,  which  brought 
Maestricht  into  the  power  of  the  French  Republic,  some 
sharpshooters  of  the  besieging  army  took  up  their  position 
in  the  quarries.  The  Austrians,  who  occupied  Fort  St. 
Pierre,  on  the  back  of  the  mountain,  and  had  already  made 
several  successful  sorties,  formed  the  plan  of  penetrating 
into  the  caverns  from  the  interior  of  the  fort,  in  the  hope  of 
surprising  the  enemy  who  occupied  their  entrances.  But  as 
the  torches  which  lighted  their  silent  march  betrayed  their 
intentions,  the  Frenchmen  cautiously  and  slowly  advanced 
upon  them,  surprised  them  with  a  sudden  volley  of  musketry, 
and  drove  back  into  the  depths  of  the  caverns  all  those  who 
were  not  made  prisoners  or  killed. 

To  the  geologist  the  quarries  of  St.  Peter's  are  particularly 
interesting,  as  the  calcareous  tuff  of  which  they  are  composed 
is  extremely  rich  in  valuable  petrifactions.  Here,  among 
others,  was  found,  in  1770,  the  famous  skull  of  the  Mososaurus 
Hoffmanni,  a  giant  lizard  twenty  feet  long,  which  before 
the  discovery  of  the  still  more  colossal  Ichthyosauri  in 
England  and  Bavaria  was  considered  as  the  most  remark- 


474  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

able  fossil  known,  and  now  forms  one  of  the  chief  ornaments 
of  the  Museum  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  in  Paris. 

There  are  no  subterranean  animals  peculiar  to  the  caverns 
of  St.  Peter's,  such  as  have  been  found  in  large  natural  caves  ; 
but  foxes  and  martens  not  seldom  find  here  a  secure  retreat, 
and  many  a  bat  hibernates  in  their  warm  recesses. 

Near  the  small  village  El  Massara,  which,  like  all  the 
hamlets  on  the  Nile,  stands  in  a  grove  of  date-palms,  are 
situated  the  quarries  which  furnished  materials  for  the  tem- 
ples and  pyramids  of  Memphis.  After  having  first  traversed 
a  wide  plain  of  sand,  the  visitor  reaches  the  foot  of  the 
Mokattam  mountain.  Here  the  ground  is  everywhere  covered 
with  enormous  heaps  of  rubbish  from  the  quarries,  which  look 
more  like  an  attempt  to  cut  the  whole  mountain  into  blocks 
and  carry  it  away  than  simple  excavations  for  building 
materials.  At  first  sight  the  traveller  might  indeed  almost 
fancy  that  all  the  eighteen  thousand  towns  of  ancient  Egypt 
must  have  been  dug  out  of  these  stupendous  excavations. 
Here  he  may  see  the  mountain  cut  through  from  top  to  bot- 
tom, and  open  spaces  as  large  as  the  squares  of  a  great  capital 
on  a  level  with  the  plain,  while  there  the  rock  has  been  hol- 
lowed out  into  enormous  halls,  their  roofs  reposing  on  titanic 
pilasters.  In  one  spot  the  rocky  wall  has  been  cut  rectan- 
gularly, after  which  it  runs  parallel  to  the  river  for  a  dis- 
tance of  about  fifteen  hundred  feet,  and  then  again  projects 
at  a  right  angle  towards  the  plain,  so  that  in  the  space 
between  the  wings  there  would  be  room  enough  for  a  small 
town,  yet  all  the  stone  which  once  filled  this  vast  cavity  has 
been  sawn  from  the  rock  and  carried  over  the  Nile.  Here 
and  there  enormous  masses  of  stone,  like  those  which  in 
winter  roll  from  the  high  Alps  into  the  valleys,  have  fallen 
from  the  overhanging  rock.  Many  bear  evident  traces  that 
the  hand  of  man  originally  severed  them  from  the  mountain ; 
but  their  size  was  such  as  to  baffle  even  the  perseverance  and 
mechanical  skill  of  the  Egyptians.  No  power  could  remove 
them  from  the  spot,  and  thus  they  remained  to  be  worn  away 
by  time,  which  as  yet,  however,  has  hardly  left  a  trace  of 
its  passage  upon  their  chiselled  sides. 

From  the  mounds  of  rubbish  that  lie  before  the  openings 
of  the  quarries  there  is  a  magnificent  view  of  the  long  line  of 


EGYPTIAN    QUARRIES.  475 

pyramids  which  mark,  to  the  west,  the  extreme  limits  of  the 
fertile  land.  Here,  indeed,  is  a  place  for  meditation,  for 
nowhere  do  stones  preach  a  more  impressive  sermon  ! 

The  quarries  of  Haggar  Silsilis,  in  a  wild  mountainous 
country  between  Assuan  and  Edfu,  are  on  a  still  grander 
scale.  Passages  as  broad  as  streets,  running  on  both  sides 
between  walls  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  now  stretching  straight 
forward,  now  curving,  extend  from  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
river  into  the  heart  of  the  mountain,  where  spaces  have 
been  hollowed  out  large  enough  to  embrace  the  Soman 
Colosseum  !  To  the  north  numberless  Cyclopean  caverns 
have  been  hewn  out,  and  enormous  colonnades  stretch  along 
the  foot  of  the  mountain.  The  rough-hewn  irregular  roof 
rests  upon  immense  square,  or  many-sided,  pillars,  frequently 
eighty  or  a  hundred  feet  in  circumference.  Enormous 
blocks,  already  completely  separated  from  the  rock,  rest 
on  smaller  ones,  ready  to  be  transported,  while  in  other  parts 
the  labours  of  the  quarrymen  were  suddenly  arrested  by  the 
invasion  of  the  foreign  conqueror  who  put  a  stop  to  the 
dominion  of  the  priests.  The  Bedouin,  astonished  at  these  vast 
works,  so  alien  to  his  roving  habits,  exclaims  at  their  aspect, 
with  a  wondering  mien,  '  Wallah !  if  these  unbelievers  had 
lived  until  now,  they  would  have  carried  away  the  whole 
mountain  and  levelled  it  with  the  ground  ! ' 

Syracuse,  the  proud  city  that  vied  with  Rome  itself,  and 
the  remembrance  of  whose  magnificence  and  glory,  both  in 
arts  and  arms,  will  live  as  long  as  classical  literature,  is  now 
reduced  to  a  heap  of  rubbish,  for  her  remains  deserve  not  the 
name  of  a  city.  But  though  even  her  ruins  have  mostly  dis- 
appeared, '  etiam  periere  ruincB,  yet  the  vast  quarries  which 
furnished  the  materials  for  her  palaces  and  temples  still  bear 
witness  to  her  ancient  grandeur. 

The  LatomiaG  of  the  Capuchins,  thus  named  from  a  con- 
vent of  that  order,  situated  on  the  rock  above,  now  form  a 
noble  subterranean  garden,  one  of  the  most  romantic  and 
beautiful  spots  imaginable.  Most  of  it  is  about  one  hundred 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  earth,  and  of  an  incredible  extent. 
The  whole  is  hewn  out  of  a  rock  as  hard  as  marble,  com- 
posed of  a  concretion  of  shells,  gravel,  and  other  marine 
bodies.     The  bottom  of  this  immense  quarry,  from  which  pro- 


476  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

bably  the  greatest  part  of  Syracuse  was  built,  is  now  covered 
with  an  exceedingly  rich  soil ;  and  as  no  wind  from  any  point 
of  the  compass  can  touch  it,  it  is  filled  with  a  great  variety 
of  the  finest  shrubs  and  fruit-trees,  which  bear  with  prodigal 
luxuriance,  and  are  never  blasted.  The  oranges,  citrons, 
pomegranates,  and  figs  are  all  of  a  remarkable  size,  and,  fre- 
quently growing  out  of  the  hard  rock,  where  there  is  no 
visible  soil,  exhibit  a  very  uncommon  and  pleasing  appear- 
ance. This  quarry  is  the  same  that  Cicero  eloquently  de- 
scribes as  the  vast  and  magnificent  work  of  the  kings  and 
tyrants  of  ancient  Syracuse,  hewn  out  of  the  rock  to  a  pro- 
digious depth.  It  also  served  as  a  prison  for  the  Athenian 
soldiers  that  were  made  captives  during  the  Peloponnesian 
war,  and  even  now  these  vast  excavations  might  be  used  for 
a  similar  purpose,  as  their  high  and  overhanging  walls  for- 
bid the  possibility  of  escape,  and  ten  men  would  be  able  to 
guard  ten  thousand  without  danger.  Yet  the  genius  of 
Euripides  liberated  many  of  his  countrymen  from  this  deep 
pit  of  bondage,  for  happening  to  sing  a  chorus  of  one  of 
his  immortal  tragedies,  they  moved  the  tyrant  to  restore 
them  to  liberty,  in  honour  of  their  illustrious  fellow-citizen. 
Never  has  a  more  grateful  offering  been  awarded  to  a  poet's 
genius,  and  never  has  the  magical  power  of  the  Muses 
celebrated  a  nobler  triumph. 


477 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

PRECIOUS    STONES. 

Diamonds — Diamond  Cutting — Rose  Diamonds  —Brilliants — The  Diamond  District 
in  Brazil — Diamond  Lavras— The  great  Russian  Diamond — The  Regent — The 
Koh-i-Noor — Its  History — The  Star  of  the  South — Diamonds  used  for  Industrial 
Purposes — The  Oriental  Ruby  and  Sapphire — The  Spinel  -  The  Chrysoberyl — 
The  Emerald— The  Beryl— The  Zircon— The  Topaz— The  Oriental  Turquoise— 
The  Garnet— Lapis  Lazuli  -  The  Noble  Opal— Inferior  Precious  Stones — The 
Agate-Cutters  of  Oberstein — Rock  Crystal — The  Rock-crystal  Grotto  of  the 
Galenstock. 

IN  former  ages  superstition  ascribed  a  strange  mysterious 
power  to  precious  stones.  Gems  of  conspicuous  size  or 
lustre  were  supposed  to  confer  health  and  prosperity  on  their 
owners,  to  preserve  them  in  the  midst  of  the  most  appalling 
dangers,  or  even  to  give  them  a  command  over  the  world  of 
spirits. 

The  crucible  of  modern  chemistry  has,  indeed,  effectually 
dispelled  these  illusions  of  a  poetic  fancy ;  but  the  precious 
stones  have  lost  nothing  in  value  by  their  nature  being 
better  known.  They  are  still  the  favourite  and  most  costly 
ornaments  of  wealth  and  beauty,  and  they  still  deservedly 
rank  among  the  wonders  of  creation.  For  surely  no  fabled 
talismanic  virtues  can  be  more  worthy  of  admiration  than 
that  natural  power  which  in  the  secret  laboratories  of  the 
subterranean  world  has  caused  their  atoms  to  unite  in  lus- 
trous crystals,  and  imparted  to  such  vulgar  materials  as 
carbon,  clay,  or  sand  the  gorgeous  reflections  of  the  rainbow 
or  the  glorious  colours  of  the  setting  sun. 

The  diamond,  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say,  is  the  chief 
of  precious  stones,  none  other  equalling  it  in  brilliancy  and 
refractive  energy.  Although  generally  colourless,  like  pure 
rock-crystal,  yet  it  is  also  found  of  every  variety  of  tint,  from 
a  roseate  hue  to  crimson  red,  or  from  a  pale  yellow  to  dark 


478  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

green  and  blue,  or  even  black.  Colourless  diamonds  are  in 
general  most  highly  esteemed,  but  coloured  stones  are  some- 
times of  an  exquisite  beauty,  and  of  corresponding  value. 
Blue  is  an  exceedingly  rare  colour,  and  one  of  this  shade, 
the  celebrated  Hope  diamond,  which  weighs  forty-four  and  a 
half  carats,*  and  unites  the  charming  colour  of  the  sapphire 
with  the  prismatic  fire  of  the  diamond,  is  valued  at  25,000Z. 

As  the  rough  stones  are  rarely  found  with  an  even  or  trans- 
parent surface,  the  assistance  of  art  is  required  to  develop 
their  full  beauty.  The  diamond,  being  by  far  the  hardest  of 
all  substances,  can  only  be  cut  and  polished  by  itself.  Hence 
the  lapidaries  begin  their  operations  by  rubbing  several  dia- 
monds against  each  other  while  rough,  after  having  first 
glued  them  to  the  ends  of  two  wooden  blocks  thick  enough 
to  be  held  in  the  hand.  It  is  the  powder  thus  rubbed  off 
the  stones,  and  received  in  a  little  box  for  the  purpose,  that 
serves  to  grind  and  polish  them. 

The  process  of  diamond-cutting  is  effected  by  a  horizontal 
iron  plate  of  about  ten  inches'  diameter,  called  a  schyf  or 
mill,  which  revolves  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand 
times  per  minute,  and  is  sprinkled  over  with  diamond  dust 
mixed  with  oil  of  olives.  The  diamond  is  fixed  in  a  ball  of 
pewter  at  the  end  of  an  arm  resting  upon  the  table  on  which 
the  plate  revolves  ;  the  other  end,  at  which  the  ball  contain- 
ing the  diamond  is  fixed,  is  pressed  upon  the  wheel  by 
movable  weights  at  the  discretion  of  the  workman. 

The  method  of  cutting  and  polishing  diamonds  was  un- 
known in  Europe  before  the  fifteenth  century,  but  appears  to 
have  been  practised  long  before  in  India,  though  in  a  rude 
manner.  The  original  facetting  of  the  Koh-i-Noor  was  the 
work  of  an  unknown  and  prehistoric  age. 

The  diamonds  which  were  employed  as  ornaments  before 
that  period,  as  for  instance  the  four  large  stones  which  en- 
rich the  clasp  of  the  imperial  mantle  of  Charlemagne,  as  now 
preserved  in  Paris,  remained  in  their  rough  and  uncut  state. 
The  invention  is  ascribed  to  Louis  von  Berguen,  a  native  of 
Bruges,  then  the  great  emporium  of  Western  trade  and  luxury, 
who  in  the  year  1476  cut  the  fine  diamond  of  Charles  the 
Bold ;  and  ever  since  that  time  Antwerp  and   Amsterdam 

*  The  carat  is  equal  to  3^  grains  Troy  weight, 


COMBUSTIBILITY    OF    THE    DIAMOND.  479 

have  maintained  the  first  rank  in  the  practice  of  an  art 
which  might  be  supposed  to  have  a  more  appropriate  seat  in 
London  or  Paris,  the  centres  of  modern  wealth  and  fashion. 

Diamonds  are  generally  cut  either  as  rose  diamonds  or  as 
brilliants.  The  rose  diamond  is  flat  beneath,  while  the  upper 
face  rises  into  a  dome,  and  is  cut  into  facets.  The  brilliant, 
which  is  always  three  times  as  thick  as  the  rose  diamond,  is 
likewise  cut  into  facets,  but  so  as  to  form  two  pyramids  rising 
from  a  common  central  base  or  girdle.  Each  pyramid  is 
truncated  at  the  top  by  a  section  parallel  to  the  girdle,  which 
cuts  off  T5g-  of  the  whole  height  from  the  upper  one,  and  ^ 
from  the  lower  one.  The  superior  and  larger  plane  thus  pro- 
duced is  called  the  table  ;  and  the  inferior  and  smaller  one  is 
called  the  collet.  Although  the  rose  diamond  projects  bright 
beams  of  light  in  more  extensive  proportion  often  than  the 
brilliant,  yet  the  latter  shows  an  incomparably  greater  play, 
from  the  difference  of  its  cutting.  In  executing  this  there  are 
formed  thirty-two  faces  of  different  figures,  and  inclined  at 
different  angles  all  round  the  table  on  the  upper  side  of  the 
stone,  while  on  the  under  side  twenty-four  other  faces  are 
made  round  the  small  table.  It  is  essential  that  the  faces  of 
the  top  and  the  bottom  shall  correspond  together  in  sufficiently 
exact  proportions  to  multiply  the  reflections  and  refractions, 
so  as  to  produce  the  gorgeous  display  of  prismatic  colours 
which  renders  the  brilliant  so  pre-eminently  beautiful. 

From  the  hardness  of  the  diamond,  its  cutting  is  a  very 
tedious  and  expensive  operation,  requiring  more  time  in  the 
proportion  of  fifty  to  one  than  the  cutting  of  the  sapphire, 
which  comes  next  to  it  in  hardness. 

Experiment  has  determined  that  the  diamond  consists  of 
pure  carbon,  so  that  the  same  substance  which  in  its  common 
black  state  is  utterly  worthless  in  very  small  quantities, 
becomes  the  most  costly  of  precious  stones,  when  it  makes  its 
appearance  in  the  crystalline  form.  Already  Newton,  by 
observing  the  extraordinary  refractive  power  of  the  diamond, 
had  been  led  to  place  it  among  combustibles  ;  but  Cosmo  III., 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  was  the  first  who  proved  the  truth 
of  this  bold  conjecture  by  actual  observation.  He  exposed 
diamonds  to  the  heat  of  the  powerful  burning  glass  of 
Tschirnhausen,  and  saw  them  vanish  in  a  few  moments  into 


480  THE   SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

air.  The  formation  of  the  diamond  in  nature  is  one  of  the 
many  problems  which  '  our  philosophy  '  has  not  yet  enabled  us 
to  solve.  Time  is  an  element  which  enters  largely  into 
nature's  works ;  she  occupies  a  thousand  or  even  thousands 
of  years  to  produce  a  result,  while  man  in  his  experiments  is 
confined  to  a  few  years  at  most. 

The  most  anciently  renowned  diamond  districts  are 
situated  in  the  Indian  peninsula,  in  the  kingdoms  of  Gol- 
conda  and  Visapour,  extending  from  Cape  Comorin  to  Ben- 
gal, at  the  foot  of  a  chain  of  mountains  called  the  Orixa, 
which  appear  to  belong  to  the  trap-rock  formation.  Tavernier 
describes  them  as  giving  employment  to  thousands  of  work- 
men, but  they  seem  now  to  be  all  but  exhausted. 

We  are  but  little  acquainted  with  the  diamond  mines  of 
Landak  in  Borneo,  though  Ida  Pfeiffer,  on  her  second  voyage 
round  the  world,  obtained  permission  to  visit  them,  a  favour 
but  rarely  accorded  to  strangers  by  the  suspicious  potentate 
to  whom  they  belong.  So  much  is  certain,  that  very  few 
stones  from  this  quarter  find  their  way  to  the  civilised  world, 
which  at  present  draws  its  chief  supplies  from  the  mines  of 
Serro  do  Frio  and  Sincora  in  Brazil. 

When  diamonds  were  first  found  in  the  Serro  do  Frio, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  the  real  value  of 
the  glittering  crystals  was  so  little  known  that  they  wrere 
made  use  of  as  card- marks  by  the  planters  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. An  inspector  of  mines,  who  had  been  some  time  in 
India,  was  the  first  who  discovered  their  true  nature.  Wisely 
keeping  his  secret  to  himself,  he  collected  a  large  quantity 
of  them,  and  escaped  with  his  treasure  to  Europe.  In  1729, 
the  governor  of  Brazil,  Don  Lourenco  de  Almeida,  sent  some 
of  the  transparent  stones  of  the  Serro  to  the  court  of  Lisbon 
with  the  remark  that  he  supposed  them  to  be  diamonds,  and 
thus  the  attention  of  Government  was  at  length  attracted  to 
their  value.  By  a  decree  of  the  8th  of  February,  1 730,  the 
diamond  district  was  placed  under  the  rule  of  an  Intendant, 
armed  with  the  most  arbitrary  powers.  Not  only  all 
strangers  were  carefully  excluded  from  its  limits,  but  not 
even  a  Portuguese  or  a  Brazilian  was  allowed  to  tread  its 
forbidden  ground  without  a  special  permission  ;  its  popula- 
tion was  limited  to  a  scanty  number,  nor  durst  the  foundation 


BRAZILIAN    DIAMONDS.  481 

of  a  new  house  be  laid  unless  in  the  presence  of  magistrates 
and  mining  inspectors.  A  system  of  secret  delations  was 
introduced  worthy  of  the  worst  times  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
many  an  innocent  person  was  banished,  imprisoned,  or 
transported  to  Africa,  without  even  knowing  his  accuser,  or 
the  trespass  laid  to  his  charge.  In  one  word  despotism 
seemed  to  have  exhausted  all  her  inventive  powers  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  to  the  Crown  the  monopoly  of  the  costliest 
gem  on  earth. 

But  in  spite  of  every  precaution,  it  was  impossible  to  put 
down  the  contraband  trade  in  diamonds.  The  audacity 
of  the  smugglers  increased  with  the  obstacles  placed 
in  their  way,  so  that  a  far  more  considerable  quantity  of 
diamonds  was  secretly  sold  and  exported  than  ever  came  into 
the  hands  of  Government.  Traversing  the  deep  forests  on 
almost  inaccessible  mountain  paths,  the  bold  free-traders  met, 
at  some  place  of  appointment,  the  negroes  who  had  been 
able  to  secrete  some  of  the  precious  stones,  and  paid  them 
a  trifle  for  diamonds  which  beyond  the  limits  of  the  district 
were  worth  at  least  twenty  times  the  price  given.  Some- 
times even  the  smugglers  searched  for  diamonds  themselves 
in  the  unfrequented  wilderness.  While  some  were  washing 
the  sands,  others  kept  watch  upon  an  eminence,  and  gave 
notice  of  the  approach  of  the  soldiers,  who  were  constantly 
patrolling  the  district. 

The  heaviest  penalties  could  not  prevent  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Serra  from  defrauding  the  Crown,  and  Herr  von 
Tschudi  ('Travels  in  South  America  in  1857-1861')  was 
told  many  amusing  instances  of  their  smuggling  contrivances. 
One  of  them  had  concealed  a  diamond  of  twenty-five  carats 
in  the  handle  of  his  riding  whip,  for  which  purpose  he  had 
practised  for  many  weeks  the  art  of  plaiting  the  thin  leather 
straps  which  covered  it,  and  another  had  secreted  his  precious 
stones  in  a  kettle  with  a  double  bottom. 

When  the  Brazils  became  an  independent  country,  the 
monopoly  of  the  diamond  trade  was  abandoned  by  the  new 
Government,  and  any  speculator  was  allowed  to  search  for 
diamonds  on  payment  of  a  slight  duty.  The  precious  stones 
are  found  chiefly  in  alluvial  deposits  (Cascalho  virgem),  in 
the  beds  of  torrents,  or  along  low  river-banks,  and  frequently 

i  i 


482  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

large  quantities  of  overlying  rubbish  (Cascalho  bravo)  have 
to  be  removed  before  the  diamond-bed  can  be  reached.  The 
mining  labours  are  generally  performed  by  slaves,  though 
some  of  the  poorer  miners,  or  Faiscadores,  have  no  other 
assistance  but  that  of  their  own  families.  The  work  varies 
with  the  seasons.  During  the  dry  period  of  the  year  the 
cascalho  is  removed  from  the  beds  of  the  desiccated  brooks, 
and  dams  are  raised  or  canals  dug  for  the  purpose  of  turning 
off  the  stream  into  another  channel,  while  the  wet  season  is 
made  use  of  for  washing  the  sands.  While  this  operation  is 
going  on,  an  overseer,  seated  on  a  high  chair,  keeps  a  sharp 
look-out  upon  the  negroes ;  but  in  spite  of  all  his  attention, 
and  of  the  severe  punishments  that  await  them  in  case  of 
discovery,  they  know  how  to  secrete  many  a  diamond,  by 
rapidly  throwing  it  into  their  mouth,  and  concealing  it 
under  their  tongue  or  swallowing  it.  In  the  Portuguese 
times  an  Intendant,  complaining  to  the  overseers  of  the 
frequency  of  theft,  accused  them  of  negligence,  but  was  told 
that  no  vigilance  in  the  world  could  prevent  it.  To  convince 
himself  of  the  fact,  he  ordered  a  negro  who  enjoyed  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  most  expert  hand  at  secreting  diamonds  to 
be  brought  before  him,  and  placing  a  small  stone  in  a  heap 
of  sand,  promised  him  his  liberty  in  case  he  should  succeed 
in  appropriating  the  stone  without  being  detected.  The 
negro  began  to  wash  the  sand  according  to  the  usual  method, 
while  the  Intendant  was  observing  him  all  the  time  with  the 
eyes  of  a  lynx.  After  a  few  minutes  he  asked  the  slave 
whether  he  had  found  the  stone.  '  If  the  word  of  a  white 
man  can  be  trusted,'  answered  the  black,  '  I  am  from  this 
moment  free ; '  and  taking  the  diamond  out  of  his  mouth, 
he  handed  it  to  the  Intendant. 

The  negroes  employed  in  the  diamond  washings  are 
generally  hired  by  the  miners  at  so  many  milrees  a  week. 
Although  their  labour  is  very  severe,  they  generally  prefer  it 
to  any  other,  as  on  Sundays  and  Feast-days  they  are  allowed 
to  search  on  their  own  account  (of  course  in  places  not  pre- 
viously occupied),  and  have,  moreover,  an  opportunity  of 
stealing  diamonds. 

The  profits  thus  lawfully  or  unlawfully  made  they  gene- 
rally  spend   in   drinking,    a    slave  but   very   rarely  saving 


FLUCTUATIONS    IN    THE    DIAMOND    TRADE.  483 

money  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  his  freedom.  In 
the  Portuguese  times,  while  the  mines  were  still  worked  on 
account  of  Government,  a  negro  who  was  fortunate  enough 
to  find  a  stone  weighing  an  oitava  (17-J-  carats)  was  at  once 
rewarded  with  his  liberty ;  at  present  only  small  rewards 
are  given.  Formerly  most  diamonds  were  found  in  the 
district  of  Tejuco,  the  capital  of  which  received  in  1831 
the  significant  name  of  Diamantina;  but  in  1844  new  mines 
were  discovered  in  the  Serro  do  Sincora,  in  the  province 
of  Bahia,  whose  richness  eclipses  that  of  the  most  brilliant 
times  of  Tejuco. 

The  total  produce  of  Brazil  is  estimated  at  about  300,000 
carats,  annually  worth  on  the  spot  from  300  to  500  milrees 
the  oitava  (17 -J-  carats).  The  miners  rarely  make  a  fortune, 
as  their  expenses  are  very  great  ;  the  chief  profits  of  the 
diamond  trade  fall  to  the  share  of  the  merchants,  who 
purchase  the  stones  in  the  mining  districts  and  then  sort 
and  export  them.  The  price  of  diamonds  is  subject  to 
considerable  fluctuations,  which,  proceeding  from  the  mar- 
kets of  London,  Paris,  and  Amsterdam,  are  most  sensibly  felt 
in  the  diamond  districts,  for  the  great  European  houses  in 
whose  hands  the  trade  of  the  rough  stones  is  concentrated, 
and  who  dispose  of  considerable  capital,  are  able  to  wait  for 
better  times,  while  the  small  Brazilian  trader  or  miner  is 
soon  obliged,  for  want  of  money,  to  sell  his  stones  at  any 
price.  After  the  breaking  out  of  the  Crimean  war,  diamonds 
were  very  much  depreciated  at  Diamantina.  They  were 
offered  for  sale  at  absurdly  low  prices,  and  even  then  a 
purchaser  was  rarely  to  be  found.  The  market  improved 
very  slowly ;  but  when  the  war  was  at  an  end,  the  prices 
once  more  rose  to  a  height  which  had  never  been  known 
before.  The  commercial  crisis  in  North  America  and  Europe 
at  the  end  of  1857,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1858,  caused  a 
new  reaction,  the  effects  of  which  Tschudi  was  able  to  note 
during  his  stay  at  Diamantina.  '  Good  ware  '  (fazenda 
regular  e  boa),  consisting  of  stones  averaging  a  vinteni*  in 

*  In  the  Brazilian  diamond  trade,  the  oitava  (17£  carats)  is  considered  as  the 
unity  of  weight.  It  is  subdivided  into  4  quartas  or  32  vintems;  the  vintem  is 
equal  to  2^  grains.  Stones  of  half  a  vintem  still  pass  as  good  ware  (fazenda 
ainda  boa),  when  weli-shaped  and  colourless.     Middling  ware  (fazenda  mediana) 


434  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

weight,  which  a  few  months  before  had  been  paid  with  500 
milrees  the  oitava,  were  now  offered  for  300.  A  stone  of  six 
vintems  was  sold  in  March  1858  for  170  milrees  ;  six  months 
before  it  would  have  been  worth  240  or  260. 

While  the  price  of  the  smaller  stones  of  about  a  vintem  or 
less  is  regulated  by  the  exporters  in  Rio,  conjointly  with  the 
European  houses,  fancy  prices  are  asked  at  Diamantina  for 
larger  stones  of  several  carats.  A  fine  diamond  of  an  oitava 
sells  for  about  three  contos  of  rees  (360?.),  and  one  of  two 
oitavas,  or  thirty-five  carats,  is  often  sold  on  the  spot  for  ten 
to  twelve  contos  (1200Z.-1440?.). 

During  the  last  thirty  years,  diamonds  have  risen  about 
forty  per  cent,  in  price  in  Europe,  a  natural  consequence  of 
the  increase  of  wealth  and  luxury  while  the  supply  of  the  article 
continues  to  be  limited.  As,  however,  many  large  stones 
have  recently  been  found  in  South  Africa,  and  Australia 
now  adds  the  diamond  to  her  many  sources  of  natural 
wealth,  its  value  will  probably  once  more  decline. 

When  cut  and  polished,  a  brilliant  of  the  first  or  purest 
water  in  England,  weighing  one  carat,  is  valued  at  121., 
a  rose  diamond  of  the  same  weight  at  81.,  while  the  value 
of  all  those  of  a  larger  size  is  calculated  by  multiplying 
the  square  of  the  weight  in  carats  by  twelve  or  eight,  except 
for  those  exceeding  twenty  carats,  the  price  of  which 
increases  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate.  The  enormous  value 
ascribed  to  large  diamonds  is,  however,  merely  fanciful,  for 
they  are  worth  neither  more  nor  less  than  what  purchasers 
may  be  inclined  or  able  to  give  for  them.  According  to 
the  above  valuation,  stones  weighing  100  carats  would  be 
worth  at  least  (100x100  =  10,000x12)  120,000?.;  a  sum 
which  has  probably  never  yet  been  paid  for  a  diamond  of 
that  weight.  A  very  trifling  spot  or  flaw  of  any  kind  lowers 
exceedingly  the  commercial  value  of  a  diamond.  The  num- 
ber of  large  diamonds  is  very  small.  Among  ten  thousand 
stones,  the  Brazilian  mines  furnish  but  one  that  weighs  ten 
carats ;  diamonds  above  twenty  carats  are  very  rare,  and  in 
all  Europe  there  are  but  five  diamonds  of  more  than  one 
hundred  carats. 

consists  of  from  64  to  100  stones  to  the  oitava,  while  all  below  that  weight  is 
sold  as  refuse. 


EEMARKABLE    DIAMONDS.  485 

The  largest  of  these  is  the  magnificent  gem  of  the  first 
water,  without  fault  or  blemish,  which  sparkles  in  the  Im- 
perial sceptre  of  Russia.  It  weighs  194|  carats;  its  largest 
diameter  is  one  inch  three  lines  and  a  half ;  its  height  ten 
lines.  It  is  of  East  Indian  origin,  and  once  figured  with 
another  similar  stone  in  the  throne  of  Nadir  Shah.  When 
this  tyrant  was  murdered,  it  was  stolen,  and  ultimately  came 
into  the  possession  of  an  American  merchant  named  Schaf- 
rass,  who  purchased  it  with  several  other  valuable  stones  of 
an  Afghan  chieftain  in  Bagdad,  for  the  round  sum  of  50,000 
piasters.  In  1772  the  Empress  Catharine  II.  bought  the 
diamond  of  Schafrass,  who  had  meanwhile  settled  in  Amster- 
dam, for  450,000  silver  roubles  and  a  patent  of  nobility. 

Of  somewhat  smaller  size,  but  of  unparallelled  beauty,  is 
the  magnificent  diamond  called  the  Pitt  or  Regent,  which 
Mr.  Pitt,  grandfather  of  the  famous  Lord  Chatham,  into 
whose  possession  it  had  come  while  governor  of  Madras, 
sold  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  Regent  of  France,  for  135,000?. 
having  himself  paid  12,500Z.  for  it  to  Tamohund,  the  most 
famous  native  dealer  in  India.  It  originally  weighed  410 
carats,  but  has  been  reduced  to  136f  by  cutting  it  into  a 
brilliant — an  operation  which  is  said  to  have  lasted  two  years. 
It  is  now  the  first  among  the  jewels  belonging  to  the  French 
Government ;  Napoleon  used  to  wear  it  in  the  hilt  of  his  sword. 

During  the  five  years  the  stone  remained  in  his  possession, 
Governor  Pitt  is  said  to  have  lived  in  such  constant  dread  of 
having  it  stolen,  that  he  never  made  known  beforehand  the 
day  of  his  coming  to  town,  nor  slept  two  nights  following  in 
the  same  house.  If  this  story  be  true,  great  indeed  must 
have  been  his  relief  when  he  parted  with  his  gem,  which, 
though  small  in  weight,  was  to  him  a  true  millstone  in 
anxiety. 

The  diamond  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  which 
weighs  139J  carats,  and  is  consequently  a  trifle  larger  than 
the  Regent,  once  belonged  to  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy, 
and  at  the  battle  of  Nancy  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  ignorant 
trooper,  who  plucked  the  gem  from  the  helmet  of  the 
unfortunate  duke  and  sold  it  for  a  crown.  At  a  later  period 
it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Court  of  Tuscany,  and  is 
now  the  first  crown  jewel  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria. 


486  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

The  most  celebrated  diamond  in  the  world  is  undoubtedly 
the  Koh-i-Noor,  or  •  mountain  of  light/  which,  according  to 
Hindu  legend,  was  worn  by  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Great 
War  which  took  place  about  four  thousand  years  ago,  and 
which  forms  the  subject  of  the  epic  poem  the  Maha-Bharata. 
After  numberless  vicissitudes  and  peregrinations,  we  find  it 
in  the  possession  of  the  Grand  Moguls,  and  in  1739  in  that 
of  Nadir  Shah,  who,  on  his  occupation  of  Delhi,  compelled 
Mohammed  Shah,  the  great-grandson  of  Aurungzeb,  to  give 
up  to  him  all  the  valuables  contained  in  the  imperial  treasury. 
According  to  the  family  and  popular  tradition,  Mohammed 
Shah  was  imprudent  enough  to  wear  the  Koh-i-Noor  in  front 
of  his  turban  at  his  interview  with  his  conqueror,  who  being 

'  the  mildest-mannered  man 
With  all  true  breeding  of  a  gentleman,' 

insisted  on  exchanging  turbans  in  proof  of  his  regard ;  and 
is  said  to  have  bestowed  upon  the  diamond  thus  politely 
annexed  the  name  of  Koh-i-Noor.  After  the  fall  of  his 
dynasty,  the  stone  became  the  property  of  Ahmed  Shah,  the 
founder  of  the  Abdali  dynasty  of  Kabul,  and,  when  Mr. 
Elphinstone  was  at  Peshawur,  was  worn  bj  his  successor 
Shah  Shuja,  on  his  arm.  When  Shah  Shuja  was  driven 
from  Kabul,  he  became  the  nominal  guest  and  actual 
prisoner  of  Bunjeet  Singh,  who,  following  the  good  example 
of  Nadir  Shah,  gently  persuaded  his  protege  to  part  with  his 
diamond  for  the  revenues  of  three  villages,  not  one  rupee  of 
which  he  ever  realised.  '  By  what  do  you  estimate  its 
value?'  asked  the  Sikh  Maharajah  of  his  victim,  as  the 
surrendered  Koh-i-Noor  lay  on  the  arm  of  his  new  master. 
'  By  its  good  luck/  said  Shah  Shuja,  '  for  it  hath  ever 
been  his  who  hath  conquered  his  enemies.' 

Subsequent  events  fully  proved  the  truth  of  this  remark, 
for  when  the  Punjab  was  annexed  by  the  British  Government, 
it  was  stipulated  among  other  conditions  that  the  Koh-i- 
Noor  should  be  presented  to  the  Queen  of  England.  But  in 
spite  of  its  promising  name,  the  '  Mountain  of  Light '  was 
but  of  inferior  lustre,  for  the  Orientals  are  mere  bunglers 
in  the  art  of  diamond-cutting,  and  lay  greater  weight  upon 
the  size  than  upon  the  brilliancy  of  a   jewel.      Hence  it 


THE    KOH-I-NOOR.  487 

was  resolved  to  have  it  recut  by  the  most  skilful  Amsterdam 
lapidaries,  who  came  over  to  England  for  the  purpose.  The 
operation,  which  was  performed  with  the  assistance  of  a 
small  steam-engine,  and  cost  no  less  than  5,000L,  was 
perfectly  successful;  and  though  the  Koh-i-Noor,  which 
formerly  weighed  186J  carats,  has  been  reduced  by  its 
conversion  into  a  brilliant  of  102-^-  carats,  it  has  gained 
so  much  in  lustre  that  it  now  fully  deserves  the  name 
assigned  to  it  by  the  hyperbolical  phraseology  of  the 
East. 

All  these  large  diamonds  originally  came  from  India ;  but 
latterly  they  have  been  rivalled  by  a  stone  of  Brazilian  origin, 
originally  weighing  254J  carats,  but  reduced  by  cutting  to 
125,  which  has  received  the  poetical  name  of  'Estrella  do 
Sul '  or  Star  of  the  South.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  as  yet 
this  beautiful  gem  has  brought  good  luck  to  none  of  its  pos- 
sessors. An  old  negro  woman  accidentally  found  it  in  a 
diamond  mine  at  the  Rio  da  Bagagem,  in  Minas  Geraes, 
among  a  heap  of  pebbles  that  had  been  previously  washed. 
She  gave  it  to  her  master,  who  did  not  even  reward  her  with 
her  liberty,  and  superstition  has  traced  all  the  ill-luck  attached 
to  the  stone  to  that  ungenerous  act.  The  first  proprietor  of 
the  diamond  was  a  needy  man,  who  for  a  trifling  sum  had 
been  allowed  by  the  proprietor  of  the  mine  to  search  for  stones 
with  the  few  slaves  he  possessed.  The  proprietor  now  claimed 
the  diamond,  alleging  that  it  had  not  been  found  on  the 
premises  hired  by  the  former ;  and  a  law  suit,  profitable  of 
course  to  none  but  the  lawyers,  was  the  consequence.  To 
be  able  to  defend  his  cause,  the  possessor  of  the  stone 
pawned  it  to  the  Brazilian  Bank  for  about  8,000£.,  for 
which  he  had  to  pay  fifteen  per  cent,  commission  and  a 
high  interest. 

The  law  suit,  as  may  naturally  be  supposed,  lasted  so  long 
that  the  man  died  before  it  was  decided,  and  but  a  very  small 
sum  of  money  remained  to  his  widow.  After  passing  through 
several  hands,  the  stone  was  purchased  at  Rio  for  a  million  of 
francs,  by  a  Dutch  jeweller,  who,  to  make  up  this  consider- 
able sum,  was  obliged  to  borrow  money  at  the  usual  high 
interest  of  the  place.  He  took  the  stone  with  him  to  Am- 
sterdam, where  it  was  cut,  at  an  expense  of  about  4,000/. 


488  THE   SUBTERRANEAN   WORLD. 

The  great  desideratum  now  was  to  find  a  purchaser  for 
the  magnificent  jewel,  which,  however,  did  not  prove  of 
the  first  water.  It  was  offered  for  sale  to  several  crowned 
heads,  and  no  princely  bridal  was  allowed  to  pass  without 
an  attempt  to  dispose  of  the  'Star  of  the  South;'  but 
all  efforts  proved  fruitless,  for  it  seems  that  the  monarchs  of 
our  days  are  of  opinion  that  the  exorbitant  sums  formerly 
paid  for  diamonds  of  an  uncommon  size  may  be  invested  in  a 
much  more  profitable  manner.  The  unfortunate  speculator 
died  of  a  broken  heart  By  the  latest  accounts  the  stone 
is  still  in  Paris,  held  in  pawn  by  a  commercial  house,  which 
most  probably  will  keep  it,  as  the  accumulated  interest  of 
years  must  of  course  absorb  its  whole  value. 

The  uncut  stone  belonging  to  the  King  of  Portugal,  and 
weighing  1,680  carats,  is  now  well  known  to  be  not,  as  was 
supposed,  the  greatest  diamond  in  the  world,  but  a  mere 
white  topaz.  The  quality  of  another  stone  of  138 -J  carats, 
found  near  the  Rio  Abaete  in  1791,  and  likewise  in  the  Portu- 
guese treasury,  has  not  been  determined.  So  much,  how- 
ever, is  certain,  that  the  Portuguese  Crown  possesses  (or 
possessed  a  few  years  ago)  the  richest  collection  of  diamonds 
in  the  world,  the  value  of  which  was  estimated  at  about 
3,000,000?.  (?)  Of  all  the  stones  annually  sent  to  Lisbon 
by  the  General  Intendant  of  the  diamond  districts,  the  king 
selected  the  largest  and  finest  for  the  royal  treasury,  and  the 
others  were  sold.  When  King  Joao  VI.  returned  in  1821 
from  Brazil  to  Portugal,  he  carried  along  with  him  almost 
as  many  diamonds  as  Voltaire's  Candide  on  his  escape  from 
Eldorado.  The  jewels  were  deposited  in  sealed  bags  in  the 
vaults  of  the  Lisbon  Bank,  where  they  remained  forty  years 
as  a  dead  capital.  In  1863  it  was  at  length  very  wisely 
resolved,  with  the  consent  of  the  Cortes,  to  sell  these  rough 
diamonds,  and  to  invest  the  proceeds  for  the  benefit  of  the 
civil  list. 

Though  diamonds  are  usually  washed  out  from  the  soil, 
yet  they  also  generally  occur  in  regions  thafc  afford  a  lami- 
nated granular  quartz  rock,  called  Itacolumite,  which  in  thin 
slabs  is  translucent  and  more  or  less  flexible.  This  rock 
occurs  in  the  mines  of  Brazil  and  the  Urals,  and  also  in 
Georgia  and  North  Carolina,  where  a  few  diamonds  have  been 


CORUNDUM   AND    RUBY.  489 

found.  Before  taking  leave  of  the  prince  of  gems,  I  will 
not  omit  mentioning  that  it  is  not  only  the  costliest  of 
all  ornaments,  but  serves  also  for  several  more  humble 
though  more  useful  purposes,  as  for  cutting  glass  by  the 
glazier,  and  all  kinds  of  hard  stones  by  the  lapidary. 
Small  drills  are  made  either  of  imperfect  diamonds,  or 
of  fragments  split  off  from  good  stones  in  their  manufac- 
ture for  jewelling.  They  are  used  for  drilling  small  holes 
in  rubies  and  other  hard  stones,  for  piercing  holes  in  china 
where  rivets  are  to  be  inserted,  or  in  any  other  vitreous 
substance,  however  hard.  Diamonds  have  also  been  recently 
used  for  arming  the  end  of  the  borer  in  a  new  rock -boring 
machine,  for  scooping  out  holes  in  the  hardest  rocks,  such 
as  granite  and  porphyry.  The  use  of  diamond  dust  within 
a  few  years  has  increased  very  materially  with  the  increased 
demand  for  all  articles  wrought  by  it,  such  as  cameos  and 
intaglios. 

The  mineral  substance  that  ranks  next  to  the  diamond, 
whether  we  estimate  it  by  its  hardness,  the  splendour  of  its 
colour,  or  its  rareness,  is  that  called  by  the  mineralogists 
Corundum.  It  consists  of  pure  crystallised  alumina  (the 
oxide  of  the  now  well-known  metal  aluminium),  variously 
tinted  by  the  addition  of  small  quantities  of  iron  or  chromium. 
To  this  class  belong  the  ruby,  the  sapphire,  the  topaz,  the 
emerald,  the  amethyst,  and  other  stones  of  gorgeous  colour, 
distinguished  by  the  epithet '  oriental'  prefixed  to  the  name. 

The  Oriental  Ruby,  or  Red  Sapphire,  is  the  red  stone  par 
excellence  of  jewellery,  and,  from  its  fiery  lustre,  probably 
identical  with  the  carbuncle  of  Pliny,  and  the  anthrax  or 
6  burning  coal '  of  Theophrastus.  Its  finest  colour  is  a  most 
rich  and  lovely  crimson,  known  as  the  pigeon's  blood  tint ;  but 
its  scarlet  tints  are  also  most  beautiful.  The  red  rays  of  the 
prism  falling  on  a  ruby  produce  a  charming  effect.  Pegu 
is  the  land  of  rubies,  and  Australia  now  likewise  furnishes 
stones  of  excellent  quality.  A  perfect  ruby  above  three 
and  a  half  carats  is  more  valuable  than  a  diamond  of  the 
same  weight.  If  it  weigh  one  carat  it  is  worth  ten  guineas  ; 
two  carats,  forty  guineas  ;  three  carats,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
guineas ;  six  carats,  above  one  thousand  guineas.  The 
largest  oriental  ruby  known  to  be  in  the  world  was  brought 


490  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

from  China  to  Prince  Gagarin,  Governor  of  Siberia.  It  came 
afterwards  into  the  possession  of  Prince  Menschikoff,  and  is 
now  a  jewrel  in  the  imperial  crown  of  Russia. 

The  bine  variety  of  the  corundum  is  the  Oriental  Sapphire 
of  the  jeweller.  There  is  one  hue  of  it  of  a  soft  pure  azure, 
distinguished  from  the  commoner  kinds  by  its  retaining  its 
fine  blue  even  by  candlelight,  when  an  ordinary  sapphire 
looks  purple  or  black.  Unlike  the  ruby,  it  occurs  in  speci- 
mens of  a  considerable  size.  A  good  blue  stone  of  ten  carats 
is  valued  at  fifty  guineas.  If  it  weighs  twenty  carats  its 
value  is  two  hundred  guineas,  but  under  ten  carats  the  price 
may  be  estimated  by  multiplying  the  square  of  its  weight  in 
carats  into  half  a  guinea ;  thus  one  of  four  carats  would  be 
worth  eight  guineas.  A  sapphire  of  a  barbel-blue  colour, 
weighing  six  carats,  was  disposed  of  in  Paris  by  public  sale 
for  70Z. ;  and  another  of  an  indigo  blue,  weighing  6  carats 
and  3  grains,  brought  601.,  both  of  which  sums  much  ex- 
ceed what  the  preceding  rule  assigns,  from  which  we  may 
perceive  how  far  fancy  may  go  in  such  matters. 

The  Spinels,  whose  transparent  and  more  precious  forms 
consist  essentially  of  alumina  combined  with  magnesia,  and 
tinted  perhaps  with  iron,  include  two  resplendent  stones,  the 
Spinel  Ruby,  a  scarlet  variety  of  considerable  fire  and  of  rich 
colour,  and  the  Balais  or  Balass  Ruby,  thus  called  from  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  localities  of  the  spinel  in  former  times, 
namely  Beloochistan  or  Balastan.  The  latter  is  of  a  delicate 
and  rarely  deep  rose-colour,  showing  a  blue  tint  when  looked 
through,  and  a  redder  one  when  it  is  looked  at.  Both  of 
these  minerals  are  termed  rubies  by  the  jewellers,  and  the 
deeper-tinted  kinds  are  sometimes  sold  for  the  true  stone. 
In  fact,  nearly  all  the  large  and  famous  gems  that  pass  under 
the  name  of  rubies  belong  to  this  species,  as  for  instance  the 
ancient  ruby  in  the  crown  of  England,  which  was  presented 
to  Edward  the  Black  Prince  by  Don  Pedro  the  Cruel,  and 
the  enormous  stone,  time-honoured  in  Indian  tradition,  that 
came  along  with  the  Koh-i-Noor  into  Her  Majesty's  posses- 
sion. Such  was  the  superstitious  value  attached  to  it  by  its 
former  proprietor,  Runjeet  Singh,  that  he  would  sooner  have 
lost  a  province  than  this  stone.     When  the  weight  of  a  good 


EMEKALDS.  491 

spinel  exceeds  four  carats,  it  is  said  to  be  valued  at  half  the 
price  of  a  diamond  of  the  same  weight. 

The  Chrysoberyl,  called  also  by  the  jewellers  the  Oriental 
Chrysolite,  is  a  stone  of  almost  adamantine  lustre  and  trans- 
parence. It  is  a  compound  of  alumina  and  the  rare  oxide 
glucina,  a  constituent  of  the  beryl.  It  has  usually  a  peculiar, 
sometimes  a  very  delicate  greenish  yellow  or  primrose  colour, 
and  is  then  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  gems.  The  finer 
specimens  are  from  Brazil. 

The  Emerald  and  the  Beryl  are  one  and  the  same  mineral 
— a  silicate  of  alumina  and  glucina,  which  owes  to  a  small 
trace  of  iron  its  blue,  pink,  or  yellow  tints,  or  else  to 
a  little  chromium  the  transcendent  green  which  characterises 
it  as  the  emerald.  The  colour  of  this  beautiful  gem  is  so 
pleasant  to  the  eye  that  the  ancients  attributed  to  it  the 
power  of  strengthening  and  relieving  the  sight  when  fatigued 
by  previous  exertions.  Both  from  its  beauty  and  rareness 
they  held  it  in  high  estimation,  and  Pliny  ranks  the  emerald 
in  value  immediately  after  the  diamond  and  the  oriental 
pearl.  In  the  Egyptian  tombs  real  emeralds  are  sometimes 
found  as  the  ornaments  of  regal  mummies,  and  they  have 
not  seldom  been  discovered  among  the  ruins  of  Rome,  or  at 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  Scythia,  Bactria,  and  Egypt 
were  renowned  among  the  ancients  as  the  countries  which 
furnished  the  most  beautiful  emeralds.  At  present  these 
precious  stones  are  obtained  chiefly  from  New  Granada  and 
Siberia,  in  which  latter  country  they  occur  of  much  larger 
size,  but  of  less  beauty,  and  consequently  far  inferior  value. 
The  first  Siberian  emeralds  were  discovered  in  the  year  1831, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Catharinenburg,  by  some  peasants, 
while  making  tar,  and  other  mines  were  opened  in  1834  ten 
versts  distant  from  the  former.  Here  was  found  an  enormous 
stone,  fourteen  inches  long  and  twelve  broad,  and  weighing 
16|  lbs.  troy,  and  another  superb  specimen  consisting  of 
twenty  crystals,  from  half  an  inch  to  five  inches  long,  and  as 
much  as  two  inches  thick,  embedded  in  a  matrix  of  mica- 
schist.  Both  these  monstrous  gems  now  rank  among  the 
chief  ornaments  of  the  Imperial  Mineralogical  Cabinet. 

When  the  Spaniards  conquered  Peru,  they  found  many 


492  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

beautiful  emeralds  in  the  possession  of  the  natives.  The 
largest  of  these  stones,  about  the  size  of  an  ostrich  egg,  was 
adored  as  a  god  in  one  of  the  temples,  and  other  emeralds  of 
a  smaller  size  placed  around  it  were  honoured  as  its  children. 
In  their  blind  fanaticism,  the  otherwise  greedy  Spaniards 
shivered  the  god  and  his  family  to  pieces,  but  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  wisest  of  the  band  quietly  picked  up 
the  fragments  and  afterwards  disposed  of  them  to  advantage. 
The  finest  stones  used  to  be  found  in  the  valley  of  Manta ; 
but  the  Indians  kept  the  mines  secret,  to  avoid  being  obliged 
to  work  in  them,  or  perhaps  out  of  hatred  against  their 
oppressors.  At  present,  the  American  emeralds  are  chiefly 
obtained  from  the  valley  of  Tunka,  in  the  province  of  Santa 
Fe  de  Bogota,  in  New  Granada. 

The  price  of  emeralds  varies  considerably,  according  to 
their  purity,  the  beauty  of  their  colour,  their  lustre,  and  their 
size.  Before  the  discovery  of  America,  they  were  uncom- 
monly dear,  all  knowledge  of  the  old  mines  having  been 
lost,  so  that  the  emeralds  still  used  as  ornaments  were  all 
ancient.  Afterwards  their  value  decreased,  when  a  greater 
quantity  was  imported  from  Peru  ;  but  recently  they  have 
again  risen  in  price,  as  America  at  present  furnishes  but  few 
good  stones.  A  splendid  specimen  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Hope,  weighing  six  ounces,  cost  500/. ;  another  fine  American 
emerald  belonging  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  is  two  inches 
long,  and  weighs  above  eight  ounces,  but,  owing  to  flaws,  it 
is  but  partially  fit  for  jewellery. 

The  Beryl,  which  exhibits  every  gradation  of  tint,  from  a 
pale  azure  blue  to  a  fine  mountain  green,  and  also  occurs  in 
a  pale  orange  yellow  variety,  is  found  in  great  perfection  at 
Oduntschilon  and  Mursinsk  in  Siberia.  A  beautifully  clear 
crystal,  ten  inches  long,  discovered  in  the  latter  locality 
in  1828,  and  forming  part  of  the  mineralogical  museum 
at  Petersburg,  is  valued  at  8,000Z.  Formerly  Brazil  and 
Cangayum  in  the  Deccan  were  in  much  repute  as  fields  in 
which  the  beryl  was  found,  and  many  a  brilliant  little  stone 
has  been  furnished  by  the  Mourne  Mountains  in  Ireland. 

The  Zircon  consists  of  the  mixed  oxides  of  silicon  and  of 
the  rare  element  zirconium,  and  is  one  of  the  heaviest  and 
most  lustrous  of  gem-stones.     Its  colourless  variety  is  the 


THE    TOPAZ    AND   TURQUOISE.  493 

nearest  match  in  brilliancy  and  refractive  energy  for  the 
diamond,  while  the  deep  orange-tinted  red  zircon  is  that 
transcendent  gem,  the  trne  hyacinth,  which  makes  a  very 
snperb  ring-stone. 

The  Topaz,  a  silicate  of  alumina  and  fluorine,  is  found 
chiefly  in  Siberia,  Brazil,  and  Saxony,  and  is  also  met  with 
in  the  granitic  detritus  of  Cairngorm  in  Aberdeenshire.  The 
colourless  Brazilian  variety  (Pingo  d'agoa,  or  waterdrop)  sur- 
passes rock-crystal  in  purity  and  refractive  power,  and  being 
of  the  same  weight  as  the  diamond,  is  sometimes  mistaken 
for  it.  The  pale  yellow  topaz  when  heated  in  a  crucible 
assumes  a  rose-red  colour,  and  is  then  called  by  the  jewellers 
ruby  of  Brazil.  The  Saxon  topaz,  on  the  other  hand,  becomes 
white  when  exposed  to  heat,  and  thus  deprived  of  colour  is 
sold  for  the  diamond.  In  ancient  times  the  topaz  was  highly 
esteemed  ;  but,  in  spite  of  its  beauty,  it  is  not  now  considered 
of  very  great  value,  from  its  being  too  frequently  found,  and 
is  sold  in  the  rough  for  about  forty  shillings  per  pound. 

When  of  a  beautiful  '  forget-me-not '  blue,  and  above  the 
size  of  a  pea,  the  Oriental  Turquoise,  which  in  inferior 
specimens  is  but  of  little  value,  fetches  a  considerable  price, 
so  that  fine  stones  of  about  half  an  inch  in  length  are  worth 
lhl.  or  20Z.  The  turquoise,  which  consists  of  phosphate  of 
alumina  coloured  by  oxide  of  copper,  occurs  chiefly  in  the 
mountainous  range  of  Persia,  whence  it  is  brought  by  the 
merchants  of  Bochara  to  Moskau ;  but  the  Shah  is  said  to 
retain  for  his  own  use  all  the  larger  and  finely  tinted 
specimens. 

Major  Macdonald  gives  the  following  account  of  a  new 
field  for  the  turquoise  which  he  discovered  in  Arabia 
Petrsea.  '  In  the  year  1849,  during  my  travels  in  Arabia  in 
search  of  antiquities,  I  was  led  to  examine  a  very  lofty  range 
of  mountains,  composed  of  iron  sandstone,  many  days' journey 
in  the  desert ;  and  whilst  descending  a  mountain  of  about 
six  thousand  feet  high,  by  a  deep  and  precipitous  gorge, 
which  in  the  winter  time  served  to  carry  off  the  water,  I 
found  a  bed  of  gravel,  where  I  perceived  a  great  many  small 
blue  objects  mixed  with  the  other  stones  ;  on  collecting  the  in 
I  found  they  were  turquoises  of  the  finest  colour  and  quality. 
On  continuing  my  researches  through  the  entire   range  of 


494  THE   SUBTERRANEAN  WORLD. 

mountains,  I  discovered  many  valuable  deposits  of  the  same 
stones,  some  quite  pure  in  pebbles,  and  others  in  the  matrix. 
The  action  of  the  weather  gradually  loosens  them  from  the 
rock,  and  they  are  rolled  into  the  ravines,  and,  in  the  winter 
season,  mixed  up  by  the  torrents  with  beds  of  gravel,  where 
they  are  found.' 

The  Occidental  or  Bone  Turquoise,  which  has  generally  but 
one-fourth  of  the  value  of  the  oriental,  is  said  to  be  fossil 
bones  or  teeth,  coloured  with  oxide  of  copper. 

The  Garnet,  a  silicate  of  some  base  which  may  be  lime, 
magnesia,  oxide  of  iron,  or  chromium,  is  in  its  finer  specimens 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  coloured  products  of  nature's  labora- 
tory. By  jewellers  the  garnets  are  classed  as  Syrian, 
Bohemian,  or  Cingalese,  rather  from  their  relative  value  and 
fineness  than  with  any  reference  to  the  country  from  which 
they  are  supposed  to  have  been  brought.  Those  most  es- 
teemed are  called  Syrian  garnets,  not  because  they  come  from 
Syria,  but  after  Syrian,  the  capital  of  Pegu,  which  city  was 
formerly  the  chief  mart  for  the  finest  garnets.  Their  colour 
is  violet  purple,  which  in  some  rare  instances  vies  with  that 
of  the  finest  oriental  amethyst ;  but  it  may  be  distinguished 
from  the  latter  by  acquiring  an  orange  tint  by  candlelight. 
The  Bohemian  garnet  is  generally  of  a  dull  poppy-red 
colour,  with  a  very  perceptible  hyacinth  orange  tint,  when 
held  between  the  eye  and  the  light.  When  the  colour  is  a 
full  crimson,  it  is  called  pyrope  or  fire- garnet,  a  stone  of 
considerable  value  when  perfect  and  of  large  size.  Garnet 
is  easily  worked,  and  when  facet-cut  is  nearly  always  (on 
account  of  the  depth  of  its  colour)  formed  into  thin  tables, 
which  are  sometimes  concave  or  hollowed  out  on  the  under 
side.  Cut  stones  of  this  latter  kind,  when  skilfully  set,  with 
a  bright  silver  foil,  have  often  been  sold  as  rubies. 

Though  Lapis  Lazuli,  a  silicate  of  soda,  lime,  and  alumina, 
with  the  sulphide  of  iron  and  sodium  in  minute  quantities, 
is  without  transparency,  and  without  much  lustre,  yet  its 
beautiful  azure-blue  tints,  often  interspersed  with  yellow 
specks,  and  veins  of  iron  pyrites,  which,  from  their  brilliant 
appearance  in  the  comparatively  dull  blue  stone,  might 
easily  be  mistaken  for  gold,  entitle  it  to  be  ranked  among 
the  semi-precious  stones.     The  finest  quality,  which  sells  in 


THE    OPAL.  495 

the  mass  for  30 1,  per  pound,  is  used  for  jewellery,  and 
for  making  costly  vases  and  ornamental  furniture.  Lapis 
lazuli  was  also  the  source  from  which  the  beautiful  pigment 
ultramarine  was  obtained ;  but  this  colour  is  now  prepared 
artificially  at  a  very  cheap  rate.  This  beautiful  mineral  is 
found  in  crystalline  limestone  of  a  greyish  colour  on  the 
banks  of  the  Indus,  and  in  granite  in  Persia,  China,  and 
Siberia. 

In  the  long  list  of  the  crystalline  or  hyaline  quartzes,  con- 
sisting of  silex  or  silica  in  various  degrees  of  purity,  there  is 
but  one  variety,  the  Noble  Opal,  that  ranks  among  precious 
stones  of  the  first  quality.  In  this  beautiful  gem,  minute 
fissures  are  apparently  striated  with  microscopic  lines,  which, 
diffracting  the  light,  flash  out  rainbow  tints  of  the  purest 
and  most  brilliant  hues.  The  Noble  Opal,  which  is  one  of  the 
favourite  jewels  of  modern  times,  was  no  less  highly  esteemed 
by  the  ancients,  '  for  in  this  stone,'  says  Pliny,  '  we  admire 
the  fire  of  the  ruby,  the  brilliant  purple  of  the  amethyst,  the 
lustrous  green  of  the  emerald,  all  shining  together  in  a  won- 
derful mixture.'  For  the  sake  of  a  magnificent  opal,  set  in 
a  ring,  and  valued  at  20,000Z.  of  our  money,  the  senator 
Nonius  was  exiled  by  Mark  Antony.  He  might  have  es- 
caped banishment  by  presenting  his  opal  to  the  covetous 
triumvir ;  but  he  preferred  exile  with  his  gem  to  staying  in 
Rome  without  it. 

The  Precious  Opal  is  so  rare  a  stone  that,  with  all  our 
mining  enterprise  and  geological  research,  we  know  of  only 
two  certain  localities  for  it,  namely,  in  Hungary  and  in 
Mexico,  though  some  specimens  are  said  to  have  been  found 
in  the  province  of  Honduras  and  in  the  stormy  Feroe  Islands. 
The  opal  mines  of  Hungary,  situated  at  Czernewitza,  in  the 
county  of  Saros,  belong  to  the  Crown,  and  are  at  present 
farmed  by  Herr  Goldschmidt  of  Vienna,  for  10,000  florins 
annually.  About  150  workmen  are  employed,  and  as  good 
stones  occur  but  rarely,  and  are  of  a  corresponding  value,  it 
may  easily  be  imagined  that,  what  with  the  constant  fear  of 
being  robbed,  and  that  of  not  being  able  to  cover  his  expenses, 
poor  Herr  Goldschmidt  is  no  less  to  be  pitied  than  Governor 
Pitt  while  in  possession  of  his  diamond. 

The  finest  and  largest  opal  in  the  world  is  in  the  Imperial 


496  THE    SUBTERRANEAN    WORLD. 

Mineralogical  Cabinet  in  Vienna.  It  has  the  most  magnifi- 
cent play  of  colours,  chiefly  green  and  red,  weighs  seventeen 
ounces,  and  is  irregularly  cut,  so  as  not  to  diminish  the  mass. 
An  Amsterdam  jeweller  is  said  to  have  offered  half  a  million 
of  florins  for  this  unique  gem.  Unfortunately,  its  large  size 
prevents  its  being  used  as  an  ornament,  as  for  this  purpose 
it  would  have  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  which  would  be  an  unpar- 
donable piece  of  Vandalism. 

Their  relative  beauty  increases  the  value  of  opals  so 
considerably  that  fine  stones  of  a  moderate  bulk  have,  in 
modern  times,  been  frequently  sold  at  the  price  of  diamonds 
of  equal  size.  The  so-called  'Mountain  of  Light,'  an 
Hungarian  opal  in  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  weighed 
526J  carats,  and  was  estimated  at  4,000Z.  The  black  opals, 
which  allow  the  red  fire  of  the  ruby  to  flash  out  from  the 
dark  ground-colour  of  the  stone,  are  also  highly  esteemed. 
Besides  the  commoner  varieties  of  opal,  such  as  semi-opal, 
opal  jasper,  wood  opal,  different  kinds  of  quartz  crystal,  in- 
cluding amethyst,  Cairngorm  stone,  and  a  long  and  beautiful 
array  of  jaspers  and  chalcedonies,  such  as  agate,  onyx,  sard, 
plasma,  and  chrysoprase,  may  be  placed  in  a  list  of  stones  of 
the  second  degree  in  point  of  value,  if  that  value  be  estimated 
by  rarity  and  price. 

The  cutting,  or  grinding  and  polishing  of  most  of  these 
stones,  which  are  commonly  comprised  under  the  name  of 
agates,  is  chiefly  carried  on  in  the  small  towns  of  Oberstein 
and  Idar,  situated  in  the  picturesque  valley  through  which 
the  rapid  Idar  flows  into  the  Nahe,  a  tributary  of  the  Rhine. 
The  sterile  soil  yields  but  a  scanty  produce,  but  the  neigh- 
bouring hills  abound  in  chalcedonies,  which  afford  the  people 
an  ample  imdemnity  for  the  barrenness  of  their  land.  As 
early  as  the  fourteenth  century,  the  art  of  agate-cutting  was 
introduced  into  this  remote  valley,  from  Italy,  where  it  had 
long  been  practised ;  but  for  a  long  time  the  trade  was  con- 
ducted in  a  very  rude  manner.  The  workmen  themselves 
undertook  the  sale  of  their  ware,  and  wandered  as  pedlars 
to  the  neighbouring  castles  or  towns,  where  they  could  hope 
to  dispose  of  their  agates  to  the  best  advantage.  It  was  not 
before  the  middle  of  the  last  century  that  the  industry  of 
Oberstein  made  a  considerable  progress.     Gold  and  silver- 


AGATE   AND   CHALCEDONY.  497 

smiths  settled  in  the  small  town  to  set  the  stones  as  they 
came  out  of  the  hands  of  the  grinders,  and  gradually  a  more 
wealthy  class  of  traders  was  formed,  who  undertook  long 
voyages,  and  extended  their  operations  to  distant  countries. 
The  fairs  of  Frankfort  and  Leipzig  were  regularly  attended 
by  the  merchants  of  Oberstein  and  Idar,  and  some  of  them 
even  ventured  as  far  as  Smyrna  or  Archangel.  The  taste 
and  the  ability  of  the  workmen  improved  as  their  market 
extended,  but  now  the  want  of  the  raw  material  began  to  be 
felt.  The  neighbouring  hills  were  no  longer  able  to  meet 
the  demand,  the  stones  continually  rose  in  price,  the  better 
qualities  could  hardly  be  procured,  and  thus  the  agate  manu- 
factory was  menaced  with  decline,  when  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance gave  it  a  new  impulse. 

Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Idar  who  in  1827  had  emi- 
grated to  Brazil  discovered  in  their  new  home  an  inex- 
haustible supply  of  stones.  Enormous  masses  of  chalcedony 
were  found  scattered  as  boulders  near  the  banks  of  some 
rivers  or  disseminated  in  the  plains,  and  could  be  sent  as 
ballast  at  a  trifling  expense  across  the  ocean.  Thus  almost 
all  the  rough  material  that  Oberstein  needs  comes  at  present 
from  Brazil  or  even  India,  and  only  the  rarer  varieties  of 
agate-jaspis  are  at  present  collected  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Idar.  In  possession  of  the  best  materials,  supplied  by  a 
number  of  localities,  and  comprising  all  imaginable  varieties 
of  chalcedony — carnelion,  plasma,  heliotrope,  jaspis,  rock- 
crystal,  amethyst,  topaz,  lapis  lazuli,  malachite — and  com- 
manding a  market  which  extends  further  and  further  over 
the  globe,  the  prosperity  of  Oberstein  and  Idar  steadily  in- 
creases. One  hundred  and  eighty-three  water-mills  (with  724 
large  grinding-stones),  situated  along  the  romantic  Idar,  give 
employment  to  about  8,000  workmen,  and  the  value  of  the 
manufactured  stones  amounts  to  at  least  220,000?.  annually. 

No  stones  are  so  porous  or  so  easily  coloured  by  artificial 
means  as  the  varieties  of  chalcedony.  In  ancient  times  the 
onyxes  from  the  Nerbudda  were  '  baked  in  ovens/  and  to 
this  day,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Brooch,  the  nodules  of 
onyx  dug  in  the  dry  season  from  the  beds  of  torrents  are 
packed  in  earthen  pots  with  dry  goat's-dung,  which  is  set 
on  fire.     By  this  baking  process  the  grey  or  dark  green  iron 

K    K 


498  THE    SUBTERRANEAN"   WORLD. 

hydrate  which  permeates  their  pores  and  gives  them  a  dull 
colour  is  changed  into  the  red  oxyde,  which  imparts  to  the 
improved  stones  rich  hues  of  orange  and  hyacinthine  red, 
and  the  more  ornamental  of  the  mottled  onyxes  that  come 
from  Cambay  are  those  thus  artificially  beautified. 

The  a£t  of  baking  and  colouring  is  now  fully  understood  in 
Oberstein.  Some  agates  consist  of  impermeable  white  bands 
or  layers  alternating  with  others  of  a  grey  or  dull  colour,  and 
of  a  porous  nature.  When  placed  in  honey  and  exposed  to 
a  moderate  heat  for  eight  or  ten  days,  the  saccharine  matter 
penetrates  into  the  microscopical  pores.  Then  the  stones  are 
boiled  in  sulphuric  acid,  which,  carbonising  the  honey,  im- 
parts a  deep  black  colour  to  the  porous  layers  which  it  had 
permeated,  and  by  thus  setting-off  the  white  layers  to  the 
best  advantage,  changes  a  previously  almost  worthless  stone 
into  a  beautiful  onyx  or  sardonyx.  An  Italian  who  came  to 
Oberstein  to  buy  rough  agates  for  the  cameo- cutters  of  Eome 
made  the  Germans  acquainted  with  this  method,  which  had 
long  been  practised  by  his  countrymen.  By  other  chemical 
processes,  some  of  which  are  generally  known,  while  others 
are  kept  a  secret,  rich  yellow,  or  apple-green,  or  blue  tints 
are  imparted  by  the  agate-dealers  of  Oberstein  to  the  rough 
produce  of  nature.  A  description  of  all  the  varieties  of  quartz 
used  for  ornamental  purposes  would  lead  me  too  far;  but  a 
few  words  on  rock-crystal  may  not  be  uninteresting. 

This  beautiful  mineral  occurs  in  many  varieties,  such  as 
the  violet,  rock-crystal,  or  amethyst,  the  most  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  which  are  procured  from  India,  Ceylon,  and  Persia ; 
the  false  topaz  when  yellow,  the  morion  when  black,  the 
smoky  quartz  when  smoke-brown.  The  limpid  and  colour- 
less kinds  are  often  called  Bristol  or  Irish  diamonds,  after 
the  various  localities  in  which  they  are  found.  Rock- 
crystal  frequently  occurs  in  the  Alps,  as  is  well  known  to 
every  traveller  in  Switzerland.  Small  rock-crystals  have 
hardly  any  value,  but  considerable  prices  are  paid  for  very 
large  specimens,  which  are  accordingly  much  sought  for  by 
chamois- hunters  and  goatherds.  About  a  century  since  a 
quartz  cave  was  opened  at  Zinken,  which  afforded  1,000  cwt. 
of  rock-crystal,  and  at  that  early  period  brought  300,000 
dollars.     One  crystal  weighed  800  pounds. 


ROCK-CRYSTAL,  499 

In  1867  a  party  of  tourists,  descending  from  the  solitudes 
of  the  Galenstock,  discovered,  in  a  band  of  white  quartz  tra- 
versing a  precipitous  rock-wall  about  a  hundred  feet  above 
the  Tiefen  Glacier,  some  dark  spots  which  the  guide,  Peter 
Sulzer,  of  Guttannen,  declared  to  be  cavities  in  which  un- 
doubtedly rock-crystals  would  be  found.  The  weather  being 
unpropitious,  no  search  was  made  at  the  time ;  but  a  few 
weeks  after  Sulzer  and  his  son  revisited  the  spot,  and  after 
having  clambered  up  to  the  holes  with  great  difficulty,  found 
that  they  communicated  with  a  dark  cavity,  from  which  the 
intrepid  explorers  extracted  some  pieces  of  black  rock-crystal 
with  the  curved  handles  of  their  alpenstocks. 

In  the  August  of  the  following  year  the  Sulzers,  accom- 
panied by  a  few  friends  from  Guttannen,  to  whom  they  had 
imparted  the  secret,  made  a  more  decisive  attempt  to  force 
their  way  into  the  cave,  by  widening  the  entrance  with  gun- 
powder. To  clamber  and  maintain  one's  position  on  a 
nearly  vertical  rock  on  ledges  only  a  few  inches  broad  is  at 
all  times  a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty ;  but  this  difficulty 
is  very  much  increased  when  at  the  same  time  the  hammer 
and  other  implements  for  blasting  are  to  be  handled.  The 
weather  was  also  very  bad,  and  every  now  and  then  a  dread- 
ful gust  of  wind  threatened  to  hurl  the  hardy  adventurers 
from  the  rock  upon  the  glacier.  Hail  and  rain  stiffened 
their  limbs  ;  and  thus  they  passed  a  miserable  night  closely 
huddled  together  on  a  narrow  projection  before  the  cavity. 
Wet  to  the  skin,  and  their  teeth  chattering  with  cold,  they 
resumed  their  labours  on  the  following  morning,  and  at  length 
sufficiently  widened  the  entrance  to  open  a  passage  into  a 
cave  which  was  found  to  penetrate  to  a  considerable  depth 
into  the  mountain.  The  cave  was  filled  nearly  up  to  its  roof 
with  a  mound  consisting  of  pieces  of  granite  and  quartz 
mixed  with  chlorite  sand;  but  here  and  there,  imbedded  in 
the  rubbish,  glistened  the  large  planes  of  jet  black  morions 
which  showed  that  their  toil  had  not  been  fruitless.  Origin- 
ally the  crystals  had  grown  from  the  sides  or  the  roof  of  the 
cave ;  and  who  can  tell  the  ages  that  were  required  for  their 
formation,  or  the  mysterious  circumstances  that  favoured 
their  growth? — then  at  an  equally  unknown  time  the  concus- 
sion of  an  earthquake,  or  maybe  their    own    weight,  had 

K   K   2 


500  THE    SUBTERRANEAN"    WORLD. 

detached  them  from  the  rock  to  which  they  clang,  and  pre- 
cipitated them  upon  the  floor.  Upon  the  whole  more  than  a 
thousand  large  crystals  were  found  in  the  cave,  many  of  them 
weighing  from  fifty  pounds  to  more  than  three  cwt. 

After  the  first  explorers  had  collected  about  a  ton,  the 
whole  able-bodied  population  of  Guttannen,  provided  with 
hammers,  spades,  ropes,  baskets,  and  trucks,  came  forth  to 
carry  away  the  remainder.  As  the  report  had  spread  that 
the  Canton  of  Uri,  on  whose  territory  the  cave  was  situated, 
intended  to  stop  their  proceedings,  they  worked  night  and 
day  with  feverish  haste,  and  in  the  space  of  a  week  had  en- 
tirely stripped  it  of  its  treasures,  which  were  partly  conveyed 
to  the  new  Furca  Eoad,  and  partly  transported  over  the  gla- 
ciers to  the  Grimsel.  One  of  the  party  fell  into  a  crevice 
with  a  crystal  of  a  hundred  pounds  upon  his  back,  but  extri- 
cated himself,  though  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  prize. 
Thus  when  the  authorities  from  Uri  made  their  appearance 
on  the  spot  nearly  all  the  crystals  had  been  removed  out  of 
their  reach.  Seven  of  the  finest  specimens,  each  rejoicing  in 
an  individual  name,  like  the  mammoth-trees  of  America,  now 
form  a  magnificent  group  in  the  museum  of  Berne,  to  which 
they  were  sold  for  8,000  francs.  The  '  king,'  32  inches  high 
and  3  feet  in  circumference,  weighs  255  pounds  ;  the  '  grand- 
father,' though  of  inferior  height,  makes  up  for  this  deficiency 
by  a  superior  girth,  and  weighs  276  pounds.  Many  other 
fine  crystals  were  sold  to  various  museums  and  private  col- 
lections for  six  or  seven  francs  per  pound,  so  that  Sulzer's 
discovery  will  long  be  gratefully  remembered  in  the  annals 
of  the  poor  village  of  Guttannen. 


INDEX 


ABE 

A  BEN  ABOO,   last  Morisco   chief  of 
Granada,  his  end,  174 
Abraham,  his   purchase   of  the   field  of 

Machpelah  with  silver  money,  297 
Abydos,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Abyssinia,  rock-churches  of,  186 
Aconcagua,  height  of  the  volcano  of,  54 
Adelsberg,  cave   of,  vast   dimensions  of 
the,  135,  138 

—  entrance  to  the  Cave  of,  137 

—  stalagmital  formations  of,  140 

—  traversed  by  a  river,  150 

—  fungi  in  the,  157 

—  subterranean   animals   found   in    the, 

162,  163 

—  insects  in  the,  163 

Adit  levels,  drainage  by,  269 

Adullam,  David's  refuge  in  the  cave  of, 

169 
JEolian  caverns,  198-200 

—  those  of  Terni,  198 

—  fables  respecting,  199 

Africa,  future  services  of  Artesian  wells 
to,  51 

—  cannibal  caves  of  South,  234 
Agates,  496 

—  of  Oberstein,  496,  498 

Aidepsos,  antiquity  of  the  hot  baths  of,  44 
Ajunta,  rock-temples  of,  182,  183 
Alabaster,  origin  of,  4 

—  of  Montmartre,  468 

—  of  Volterra,  468 

—  of  England,  469 

ilaghez,  sulphur  of  the  crater  of  the  vol- 
cano of,  445 

Albania,  subterranean  water-courses  of, 
150 

Albano,  Lake  of,  the  crateriform  hollow 
forming  the,  132 

Albert  the  Great,  his  discovery  of  arsenic, 
385 

Alchemists,  their  search  for  gold,  371 

Aleschga,  fire  temple  of,  91 

Aleutian  Mountains,  volcanoes  of  the,  61 

Aleutian  Archipelago,  formation  of  a  new 
volcanic  island  in  the,  60 


AME 

Alexander  the  Great,  wealth  of,  286,  298 
Aldborough,  amber  found  on  the  coast  at, 

450 
Algeria,  Artesian  wells  of,  51 
Algiers,  great  part  of,  destroyed  by  the 

earthquake  of  1755,  118 
Aljaska,  volcanoes  of  the  peninsula  of,  61 
Almaden  del  Azogue,  quicksilver  mines 

of,  371-373 

—  mines  of  New  Almaden  in  California, 

378 
Alpujarras,  destruction  of  the  Moors  of 

Granada  in  the  caves  of,  173,  174 
Alston,  situation  of  the  town  of,  366 
Alston  Moor,  horses  used  in  the  mines  of,262 

—  great  drain  of  Nent  Force  Level,  270 

—  lead  mines  of,  365,  366 
Altai,  copper  mines  of  the,  326 

—  porphyry  of  the,  468 

Alten  Fjord,  copper  mines  of,  324 
Aluminium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  387 
Aluminium-bronze,  387 
Amber,  modes  of  collecting,  on  the  Prus- 
sian coast,  449 

—  diggings  near  Dantzig,  449,  450 

—  various  places  in  which  it  is  found,  450 

—  what  is  amber  ?  450 

—  the  extinct  amber-tree,  451 

—  insects  inclosed  in  amber,  452-455 

—  ancient  and  modern  trade  in,  455-457 

—  constituents  of,  458 

—  mines  of  Tolfa,  458 

—  manufacture  of,  459 

Amblyopsis   spelseus,   of    the   Mammoth 

Cave  of  Kentucky,  168 
America,  number  of  active  volcanoes  in 

"Western  and  Central,  61 

—  copper  mines  of,  326 

—  ancient  copper  mines  of,  327 

—  iron  industry  of,  362 

—  lead  mines  of,  367 

—  silver  mines  of,  300-314 

—  coal-fields  of  North,  424 

—  fossil  monkeys  of  South,  24 

—  animals  of  the  Pliocene  period  and  of 

the  present  day,  24 


502 


INDEX. 


AMM 

Ammonites,   number  of  species   of  the, 

18 
■ —  characteristics  of  the,  1 8 
Ammonites  Henleyi,  9 
Anaitis,  golden  statue  of  the  goddess,  286 
Anchorites,  caves  of,  178 
Ancyloceras  gigas,  19 
Andernach,    on  the   Rhine,   glacial   beer 

cellars  of,  192 
■ —  entrance  to  the  glaciere  of,  201 
Andes,  sea-shells  found  on  the,  34 

—  fish     disgorged     from     the    volcanic 

caverns  of  the,  69 
Andre,  St.,  town  and  church  of,  buried 

by  a  landslip  of  Mount  Grenier,  127 
Andreasberg,  St.,  depth  of  one  of  the  pits 

of,  247 
Animals,   impressions    produced   on,  by 

an  earthquake,  113 

—  subterranean,  159-168 

—  divine  honours  paid  to  them  by  the 

Egyptians,  and  converted  into  mum- 
mies, 205 

—  caves   containing  remains   of   extinct 

animals,  213 
Anoplotheriums,  size  and  characteristics  of 

the,  23 
Antaeopolis,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Anthony,    St.,   of  Egypt,    his   rock-cave, 

life,  and  death,  178,  179 
Anthracites,  or  non-bituminous  coal,  401, 

402 

—  value  of,  for  steam-engines,  405 
Antimony,  first  mention  of,  383 

—  uses  of,  383 

Antioch,  earthquake  of,  in  the  reign  of 
Trajan,  97 

—  its  subsequent  subversion  by  an  earth- 

quake, 97 

Antiparos,  Grotto  of,  134 

Antuco,  eruption  of  the  volcano  of,  in 
1835,  79 

Apallachian  coal-field,  its  enormous  ex- 
tent, 424 

Apollo,  at  Delphi,  golden  statue  of,  285 

Apteryx  australis  of  New  Zealand,  216 

Aptornis,  Professor  Owen's  resuscitation 
of  the,  217 

Aqueducts  of  the  Eomans,  41 

—  of  the  Turks,  41,  42 

Aqueous  rosks,  countless  ages  of  the  for- 
mation of  the,  1 ,  5 

—  incomplete  knowledgo  of  these   sedi- 

mentary formations,  1 

—  aqueous    strata  disturbed   by  igneous 

formations,  4 
Arabia,  sulphur  of,  446 
Arcadia,   consecrated   caves   to    Artemis 

and  Pan  in,  187 
Arcueil,  artificial  mushroom -beds  at,  158 
Arica,  effects  of  an  earthquake  sea- wave 

at,  109 


BAK 

Argentiferous  veins  of  the  Clausthal  and 
the  Yeta  madre,  their  length,  247 

Armenia,  hermits  in,  179 

Arnaud,  St.,  Colonel,  his  massacre  of  the 
Arabs  in  the  cave  of  Shelas,  176 

Arracan,  mud  volcanoes  of  the  coast  of,  93 

Arsenic,  discovery  of,  385 

—  supply  of,  385 

Artesian  wells,  subterranean  heat  shown 
by,  32 

—  theory  of,  48 

—  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Sahara,  men- 
tioned by  Olympiodorus,  48 

—  the  well  of  Grenelle  at  Paris,  49 

—  Artesian  well  sunk  in  the  London 
basin,  49 

—  various  uses  of  Artesian  wells,  50 

—  those  of  Algeria,  51 

—  future  importance  of,  in  Africa   and 

Australia,  51,  52 
Ashes  thrown  out  by  volcanic  eruptions, 

66,  67 
Asia  Minor,  earthquakes  of,  in  the  reign 

of  Tiberius,  97,  100 
Asphalte,  426 

—  found  swimming  on  the  Dead  Sea,  427 

—  uses  of,  427 

—  pavements  made  of,  428 
Assuan,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Asterophyllites  comosa,  392 
Augustus,  Emperor,  and  the  sacrilegious 

soldier,  story  of,  286 
Aurignac,  sepulchral  grotto  of,  228,  229 
Australia,  future  importance  of  Artesian 

wells  to,  52 

—  stalactital  caves  of,  141 

—  ossiferous  eaves  of,  216 

—  discovery  of  gold  in,  289 

—  Sir  Roderick  Murchison's  surmises,  289 

—  copper  mines  of,  329 
Austria,  coal-fields  of,  423 

—  salt  mines  of,  433-436 

Auvergne,  carbonic  acid  gas  springs  of,  88 

—  maare,  or  crateriform  hollows,  in,  132 
Avaricum  (Bourges),  Csesar's  siege  of,  347 
Averno,  Lake  of,  formed   in   an  extinct 

crater  of  a  volcano,  57 
Aviculopecten  sublobatus,  fossils  of,  15 
Axmouth,  landslip  at,  128 

—  Sir  C.  Ly ell's  account  of  it,  128 
Azores,  earthquakes  in  the,  100 

Azure  Cave  of  Capri,  beauty  of  the  marine 
excavation  called  the,  143 


B 


ABYLON,  golden  image  of  Belus  at, 


Bagdad,  coins  of,  287 

Baghilt  coal  mine,  in  Wales,  drowned,  273 

Bahaud,  Port,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  36 

Baku,  burning  springs  of,  91 

—  new  mud  volcano  near,  95 


INDEX. 


503 


BAL 

Balearic  Islands,  troglodytes  of,  234 
Ballarat,  gold  mines  of,  291 
Baltic,  changes  on  the  shores  of  the,  451 
Banca,  tinstone  of,  335 
Bann  Bridge,  subsidence  of  the  land  at,  36 
Barbary,  earthquake  of  1755  in,  118 
Barigazzo,  burning  springs  near,  90 
Bath,  thermal  springs  of,  43 
Bats,  clusters  of,  in  caverns,  159 
Baumann's  Cave,  in  the  Harz  Mountains, 
136 

—  fatal  expedition,  136 

Bean  shot  and  feathered  shot  of  copper- 
works,  321,  322 
Bear,  grisly,  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  125 

—  bones  of  huge  and  formidable  extinct 

species  found  in  caverns,  123,  125 

—  remains  of  bears  found  in  caves,  213 
Beatus,  St.,  his  cave  on  the  Lake  of  Thun, 

181 

—  pilgrimages  to  his  cave,  181 
Beauheyl,  or  '  living  streams  '  of  tin,  337 
Beaujonc,  scenes  of  the  inundation  of  the 

mine  of,  274 
Beckford,  his  remarks  on  the  Grotto  of 

Pausilippo  and  Virgil's  tomb,  242,  243 
Beetle,  cavern,  in  the  cave  of  Adelsberg,  163 

—  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky,  167 
Belemnites  of  the  Lias  and  Oolite,  19 

—  size  and  characteristics  of  the,  19,  20 
Belemnite,  restored,  19 

Belgium,  lead  mines  of,  367 

—  production  of  zinc  in,  381 

—  coal-fields  of,  423 

Belus,  image  of,  in  the  temple  of  Babylon, 

285 
Belzoni,  his  aptitude  for  his  work,  203 
Benedict,  St.,  his  cave  near  Subiaco,  180 
Berchtesgaden,  salt  mines  of,  436 
Bergraann,  his  experiments  with  platinum, 

382 
Berguen,  Louis  von,  discovers  the  art  of 

cutting  diamonds,  478 
Beryl,  the,  491,  492 
Bethlehem,    Church   and   Grotto    of  the 

Nativity  at,  188 
Bewick,  Thomas,   a  coal-hewer  in   early 

life,  419 
Biban-el-Moluk,    the     royal     tombs     of 

Thebes,  202-204 
Biscayana,  Veta  de  la,  silver  mine  of,  304 

—  its  great  wealth  and  subsequent  aban- 

donment, 304 
Billiton,  tinstone  of,  335 
Birds,  cave-haunting,  160 
Birmah,  mud  volcanoes  of,  93 

—  rock-temples,  184 
Bismuth,  first  mention  of,  383 

—  whence  furnished,  383 
Bituminous  substances,  426 

Black  Country,  iron  furnaces  of  the,  351 
Black  lead.     See  Plumbaco. 


BRI 

Blast  furnaces  for  iron,  352 

—  benefits  of  the  hot  blast,  353 
Blasting  in  mines  and  its  dangers,  258- 

260 
Bleyberg-a-Montzen,  lead  mines  of,  367 
Blothrus  spelseus,  of  the  Cave  of  A  dels- 
berg,  163 

—  its  pursuit  of  the  cavern-beetle,  163 
Blowers  in  coal-mines,  279 

Bogs,  effects  of  bursting  of,  1 30 
Bohemia,  ice-caves  of,  197 

—  gold  coins  of,  287 

—  gold  of,  288 

—  silver  mines  of,  299 

—  their  produce,  300 

—  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  iron  mines  of,  358 

—  coal-fields  of,  423 
Bolivia,  active  volcanoes  of,  61 
Bolsena,  Lake  of,  formed  in  the  extinct 

crater  of  a  volcano,  57 
Bonifacio,  in  Corsica,  caverns  of,  144,  145 
Borax,  or  borate   of  soda,  former  chief 

supply  of,  459 

—  obtained  as  a  crude  substance  in  various 

places,  459 

—  the  suffioni  of  the  Florentine  lagoons, 

460 
Boring  for  minerals,  249 

—  Williams's  account  of  the  emotions  of 

the  boring  party,  249 

—  mode  of  operation,  250,  251 

—  prices  in  the  North  of  England  for 

boring,  250  note 

—  implements  used  for  boring,  250 
Borneo,  diamond  mines  of,  480 
Borrowstoness  Colliery,  410 

Bosio,  Anthony,  his  discovery  of  the  cata- 
combs, 209 

Boston,  in  America,  smelting-houses  of 
the  Bay  of,  328 

Botallack  mine,  in  Cornwall,  317-319 

—  the  blind  miner  of,  319,  320 
Bourbon,    Isle   of,    volume   of    the   lava 

stream  of  the  eruption  of  1787,  75 
Bracciano,  Lake  of,  formed  in  the  extinct 

crater  of  a  volcano,  57 
Brachiopods  of  the  Silurian  seas,  12,  13 
Brandstein,  ice-cave  of,  197 
Brazil,  ossiferous  caves  of,  216 

—  iron -ores  of,  363 

—  lead  mines  of,  367 

Bressay,  islet  of,  its  marine  caverns,  142 

Breton,  Cape,  rain-drops  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous period  preserved  at,  29 

Brienz,  village  of,  twice  buried  by  a  land- 
slip, and  twice  reconstructed,  127 

Brilliants,  479,  484 

Britannia  metal,  335 

—  manufacture  of,  383 

Brittany,  traces  of  depression  of  the  land 
on  the  coast  of,  37 


504 


INDEX. 


BUT 

Brixham,  bone-caves  of,  227 

Bronze,  an  alloy  of  copper  and  tin,  332 

—  implements  of,  found  in  Switzerland, 

332 

Brownhill,  in  North  America,  bituminous 
coal-field  at,  424 

Brule\  near  St.  Etienne,  burning  coal- 
mine at,  283 

Brunswick,  New,  coal-fields  of,  424 

Buch,  Leopold  von,  his  observations  as  to 
the  rise  of  the  land  of  Sweden,  35 

Biidoshegy,  in  Transylvania,  sulphur 
caves  of  the  mountain,  446 

—  visit  to  the  caves,  446 

Bufador,  or  the  water-spout  of  Pope 
Luna,  146 

Buffalo,  food  of  the,  26 

Burgbrohl,  carbonic  acid  gas  spring  of, 
and  quantity  it  produces,  88 

Burra-Burra  copper  mine,  in  Australia, 
329 

Busingen,  destruction  of  the  village  of, 
124 

Bustamente,  Don  Jose,  his  draining  gal- 
lery, 304 


CADIZ,  effects  of  the  great  earthquake 
of  1755  on,  117,  118 
Cadmium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  386 
Calabria,  earthquake  of  1783  in,  98 

—  conduct  of  the  peasants  in  the,  99 

■ —  movement  of  the  sea  during  the  earth- 
quake, 107 

■ —  depth  of  the  original  shock  of  1857, 
111 

Calamine,  zinc  produced  from,  380 

—  worked  in  Prussia,  Belgium,  and  Eng- 

land, 381 
Calamites  nodosus,  393 
Caldera,  copper  mines  of,  326 
California,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  34 
■ —  discovery  of  gold  in.  288 

—  immense  flood  of  emigration  into,  289 

—  gold-washing  at,  295 

—  copper  mines  of,  328 

• —  iron  discovered  in,  362 

■ —  quicksilver  of,  378 

Callistus,  catacomb  of,  discovery  of  the, 
210 

Calobozo,  sounds  accompanying  earth- 
quakes at,  1 03 

Camborne,  copper  mines  of,  317 

Cambrian  rocks,  antiquity  of  the,  2,  3,  10 

—  fossils  of  the,  10,  11 
Cambyses,  his  enormous  wealth,  286 
Campagna,  different  kinds  of  stone  of  the, 

208 
Canada,  iron  pyrites  of,  448 
Canary  Islands,  earthquakes  of  the,  100 

—  maare,  or  crateriform  hollows,  of  the, 

132 


CAT 

Cane,  Grotto  del,  cruel  experiments  on 
dogs  at,  89 

Canstadt,  in  Wurtemburg,  mills  kept  at 
work  in  winter  by  Artesian  wells,  50 

Capac  Urcu,  the  volcanic  cone  of,  blown 
to  pieces,  67 

Caraccas,  town  of,  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
quake, 101 

Carbonic  acid  gas  springs,  88 

—  those  of  Germany,  88 
Carboniferous  period,  fishes  of  the,  13 

—  vegetable  and  animal  remains  of  the, 

14,  18 

—  insects  of  the,  15 

—  rain-drops  of  the,  preserved  at  Sydney, 

in  Cape  Breton,  29 

—  proof  of  the  density  of  the  atmosphere 

of  the,  29 

—  plants  of  the,  391 

Carburetted  hydrogen,  springs  of,  90-93 

Carclaze  tin  mine,  341 

Cardiganshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 

Cardona,  rock-salt  of  the  valle}^  of,  437 

Cardrew  mine,  in  Cornwall,  drainage  of, 
270 

Carguairazo,  fish  disgorged  from  the  erup- 
tion of  the  volcano  of,  69,  70 

Carinthia,  dollinas  and  jamas  of,  130 

—  subterranean  water-courses  of,  150 

—  fungi  of  the  caves  of,  158 

—  iron  of,  358 
Carlsbad,  hot  springs  of,  43 

Carmel,  Mount,  grotto  of  the  prophet 
Elijah  on,  188 

—  church  on,  188 

Carniola,  dollinas  and  jamas  of,  130 
• —  subterranean  water-courses  of,  150 
Carnon,  near  Falmouth,  tin-stream  of,  338 
Carrara  marble,  origin  of,  4 

—  quarries  of,  465 

—  situation  of  the  quarries,  465 

—  the  town  of,  465 

Carron  iron-works  established,  350 
Carson  river,  silver  mines  near  the,  314 
Cass,  General,  his  report  on  the  copper 

mines  of  Lake  Superior,  328 
Cassiterides,    or  tin   islands,   Herodotus' 

mention  of,  333 
Cassotis,    at    Delphi,   antiquity   of  the, 

44 
Castro,  John  di,  his  manufacture  of  alum 

at  Tolfa,  458 
Catacombs  of  Rome,  205 
■ —  gallery  with  tombs,  206 

—  sepulchral  inscriptions,  209 

■ —  Bosio's  discovery  of  the  catacombs,  209 

—  Cavaliere  de  Bossi's  researches.  210 

—  these  of  Naples  and  Syracuse,  210 

—  those  of  Paris,  210 

Catania  threatened  by  the  lava-stream 
from  Etna,  72 

—  partly  destroyed  by  the  lava,  73 


INDEX. 


505 


CAT 

Catorce,  Alamos  do,  silver  mine  of.  303 
Caucasus,  mud  volcanoes  of  the,  93,  95 

—  earthquakes  of,  100 
Cavern-roofs,  falling  in  of,  causing  land- 
slips, 129 

Caves,  in  general,  133 

—  their  various  forms,  133 

—  natural  tunnels,  133,  134 

—  dimensions  of  caves,  135 

—  discovery  of  caves,  135 

—  the  various  rocks  in  which  they  occur, 

136 

—  marine  caves,  142 

—  volcanic  caves,  146 

—  cave  rivers,  149 

—  cave  vegetation,  156 

• —  subterranean  animals,  159 

—  caves  as  places  of  refuge,  169 

—  hermit  caves  and  rock-temples,  178 

—  subterranean  places  of  worship,  181 

—  ice-caves  and  wind-holes,  192 

—  rock-tombs  and  catacombs,  202 

—  caves  with  bones  of  extinct  animals, 

213 

—  subterranean  relics  of  prehistoric  man, 

221 

—  troglodytes,  or  cave-dwellers,  231 

—  cave  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  near  Maes- 

tricht,  470 
Celsius,   his  observations  of  the  rise  of 

the  land  in  Sweden,  35 
Cemeteries,   rock-hewn,    of  Egypt,    204, 

205 
Cenis,   Mont,   railway    tunnel    through, 

238-240 

—  machines  for  boring  the,  238,  239 
■ —  mode  of  proceeding,  238-240 
Cervus  megaceros,  the,  of  Ireland,  28 
Ceylon,  rock-temples  of,  184 
Chalcedony,  497 

Chaldaea,  silver  mines  of,  298 
Chalk  group,  star  fish  of  the,  18 
Charlemagne,  imperial  mantle  of,  478 
Cheshire,  salt  mines  of,  431 
Chili,  number  of  active  volcanoes  of,  61 
• —  great  earthquake  of,  in  1835,  79 

—  earthquakes  of,  generally,  100 

—  effects    of   the    earthquake    sea-wave 

after  the  shock,  108 

—  silver  mines  of,  313,  314 

—  copper  mines  of,  326 

—  lead  mines  of,  367 

China-clay,  or  kaolin,  how  formed,  460 

—  mode  of  treating  it,  460 

—  export  of,  from  Cornwall  and  Devon- 

shire, 461 
'  Chinaman's  Hole,'  gold  diggings  at,  292 
Chinese,  their  use  of  springs  of  carburet- 

ted  hydrogen,  90,  91 

—  at  the  Australian  gold  diggings,  291 

—  their   discovery  of  gold   near   Mount 

Ararat,  291 


COC 

Choke-damp,  or  black-damp,  278 

—  destruction  caused  by,  281 
Choquier,  bones  of  extinct  animals  found 

in  the  cavern  of,  214 
Christians,  tombs  of  the  early,  near  Eome, 

207,  208 
Chrome,  uses  of,  385 

—  discovery  of,  386 

—  whence  obtained,  386 
Chrysoberyl,  or  oriental  chrysolite,  491 
Chuquibamba,  height  of  the  volcano  of, 

54 
Cinnabar,  uses  of,  in  early  ages,  370 
Cirknitz  Lake,  the  Proteus  first  discovered 

in  the,  164,  165 
Clara,  Boveda  de  Santa,  at  Almaden,  372 
Cleveland    district,  iron  manufacture   of 

the,  354 
Clausthal,    length    of   the    argentiferous 

veins  of,  247 

—  great  adit  levels  of  the  mines  of,  270 
Clodius,    Eoman     praetor,    defeated    by 

Spartacus  at  Vesuvius,  82 
Coal  and  coal  mines,  245,  246 

—  age  of,  390 

—  plants  of  the  Carboniferous  age,  391 

—  extent  of  the  coal  seams,  395 

—  vast  time  required  for  the  formation  of 

the  coal-fields,  395 

—  the  probable  mode  of  formation,  396 

—  derangements  and  dislocation  of  coal 

beds,  397,  398 

—  separation  of  a    coal-field  into  small 

areas  by  dykes  or  faults,  399 

—  bituminous  and  non-bituminous  coals, 

401 

—  chief  coal-producing  countries  of  the 

world,  402 

—  the  coal-fields  of  Great  Britain,  402- 

422 

—  the  hewers  and  their  work,  415,  418 

—  other  workmen,  below  and  above  the 

pit,  416,  417 

—  early  knowledge  of  coal,  419 

—  its   use   prohibited  by  Edward  I.  in 

London,  419 

—  the  trade  in  coal  in  the  middle  of  the 

seventeenth  century,  420 

—  increase  in  the  demand  and  supply,  420 

—  the  question   of  the  duration  of  our 

coal-fields,  420 

—  coal-fields  of  foreign  countries,  422- 

425 
Coal-hewers  of  the  North  of  England,  414 

—  at  work,  415 

—  how  they  are  paid,  416 
Coalbrookdale,  iron  manufacture  in,  349^ 
Coal-cutting  machines,  415 

Cobalt,  name  of,  384 

—  uses  of,  and  whence  obtained,  384 
Coca,  stimulating  properties  of,  311 
Cochin  China,  rock-temples  of,  184 


506 


INDEX. 


coi 

Coins,  the  oldest  known  gold,  287 
Collieries,  casualties  in,  245 

—  drainage  of  the  water  in,  272 
Colossochelys  Atlas,  gigantic  proportions 

of  the,  24 
Columbia,  mud  volcanoes  of,  93 
Columbia,  British,  gold-fields  of,  293 

—  coal-fields  of,  424 

Consolidated  Mines  in  Cornwall,  amount 

of  sinking  in  the,  251 
Conto,  Monte,  landslip  of  the,  127 
Copal-tree,  resin  at  the  foot  of  the,  451 
Copiapo,  in  Chili,  discovery  of  silver  at, 

248 
■ —  silver  mines  of,  313 
Copper,  name  and  antiquity  of,  315 

—  how  found,  315 

—  its  uses  and  compounds,  315 

—  mines  of  Cornwall,  316,  317 

—  ores  and  process  of  smelting,  320,  321 

—  mines  of  Sweden,  Germany,  and  Russia, 

322-326 

—  those  of  America,  326-329 

—  and  of  Australia,  329 

—  history  of  some  of  our  copper  mines, 

329 

—  lodes  of  Cornwall,  337 
Copperopolis,  copper  mines  of,  328 
Coquimbo,  copper  mines  of,  326 
Corals,  primeval,  16 

Corneale,  Cave  of,  colossal  stalagmites  of 

the,  140 
Cornwall,  mines  of,  316 

—  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  persons  employed  in  them,  343 

—  zinc  produced  in,  382 

—  China-clay  of,  460,  461 
Corsica,  marine  caves  of,  145 

Cort,  Mr.,  his  improvements  in  iron  manu- 
facture, 350 

Corundum,  489 

Cosiguina,  phenomena  of  an  eruption  of, 
65,  67 

—  destruction  caused  by  the  eruption  of 

1835,  67 
Cosmo   III.,    Grand    Duke   of  Tuscany, 

burns  a  diamond,  479 
Cotopaxi,  shape  of,  53 

—  enormous  stones  hurled  by  an  eruption 

of,  66 

—  phenomena  of  the  eruption  of  1803,  69 

—  noises  heard  109  miles  off  during  an 

eruption  of,  104 
Cretaceous  period,  fossils  of  the,  19,  22, 23 

—  causes  of  landslips  in  the,  129 
Crete,  labyrinth  of,  174,  175 

—  consecrated    caves    and     grottoes    to 

Zeus  in,  187 
Crimea,  mud  volcanoes  of  the,  93 
Crinnis  Copper  Mine,  Old,  abandoned  but 

reworked,  329,  330 
Crinoids,  or  sea-lilies,  fossil,  17 


DEN 

Croesus,  his  enormous  wealth,  286 
Crookes,  Mr.,  his  discovery  of  thallium, 

388 
Crowe,    Mr.,    of    Hammerfest,    forms    a 

copper-mining  company  in  Norway,  324 
Crustaceans  of  the  Silurian  seas,  11, 12 

—  cavern,  163,  167 
Cuba,  copper  mines  of,  329 

—  iron  ores  of,  363 

Cumana,  destruction  of  the  town  of,  by  an 
earthquake,  102 

—  sounds  accompanying  the  shocks,  103 
Cuthbert,  St.,  his  cave  on  the  Coast  of 

Northumberland,  180 

—  account  of  him,  180 

—  '  beads  of  St.  Cuthbert,'  180 

Curtis,  Thomas,  his  difficult  work  in  the 

Huel  Wherry  tin  mine,  339,  340 
Cyclops,  troglodytic  caverns  of  the,  at  the 

base  of  Mount  Etna,  232 
Cyrus,   enormous  treasures   accumulated 

by,  286 
Cyprus,  ancient  silver  mines  of,  298 
Cyzicus,  the  oldest  known  specimen  of  a 

gold  coin  of,  287 


DAHEA,  French  atrocities  at  the  caves 
of  the,  176 
Daleearlia,  iron  ores  of,  360 
Dalmatia,  dollinas  and  jamas  of,  130 

—  subterranean  water-courses  of,  150 
Dalton-le-Dale,  drainage  of  the  coal-mine 

of,  272 
Dambool,  rock-temple  of,  184 
Dammara  australis,  masses  of  resin  at  the 

base  of  the  trunk  of  the,  451 
Dana,    Professor,   his    views    respecting 

volcanoes,  79 
Dannemora,  iron-works  of,  360 
Dantzig,  amber  found  near,  449 
Darien,  platinum  discovered  at,  382 
Darius  Hystaspis,  his  enormous  wealth, 

286 
Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  his  safety-lamp,  280 

—  his     discovery     of     aluminium     and 

magnesium,  387 

—  and  of  sodium,  388 

Delgada,   Punta,    in   the   Island  of  San 

Miguel,  147 
Delphi,    subterranean   hollow   under  the 

tripod  of  the  priestess  of,  187 
Demidoff,  Prince,  his  copper  mines,  326 

—  his  iron  mountain  in  the  Oural,  357, 

358 
Denbighshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Derbyshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Denmark,  enormous  antiquity  of  the  peat 
mosses  of,  221 

—  remnants  of  a  former  vegetation  and 

articles  of  human  workmanship  found 
in  the  mosses  of,  222 


INDEX. 


507 


PEN 

Denmark — continued. 

—  the  '  shell-mcmncis '  of,  222 
Depressions,  subterranean,  34,  36 

—  submarine  forests  in  various  places,  36 

—  evidences  of  depression,  36,  37 

—  probable  causes  of,  38 
Derbyshire  spar,  469 

Devon  Great  Consols  Mines,  success  of  the 

copper  mines  of,  330 
Devonian  period,  fishes  of  the,  13 
Devonshire,  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  miners  and  wages  of,  343 

—  china-clay  of,  460,  461 
Diablerets,  falls  of  the,  121 

—  escape  of  a  peasant   from   his  living 

tomb  in  the,  122 

—  causes  of  the  phenomenon,  123 
Diamond,  the,  477 

—  diamond-cutting,  478 

—  rose  diamonds  and  brilliants,  479 

—  destroyed  by  heat,  479 

—  stones  of  India  and  Brazil,  480 

—  the  Russian  diamond,  and  the  Pitt  or 

Regent  diamond,  485 

—  that  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  485 

—  the  Koh-i-Noor,  486 

—  diamonds  and  diamond-dust   used  for 

industrial  purposes,  489 
Dinornis,  size  of  the,  28 
" —  Professor  Owen's  resuscitation  of  the, 

217 
Dinotherium,  size  and  characteristics  of 

the,  23 
Diodorus  Siculus,  his  account   of  the  tin 

trade  of  Britain,  333 
Divining  rod,  the,  248 

—  how  used,  249 
Dolcoath  tin  mine,  337 
Dolores,  mine  of,  303 

Domingos,  San,  in  Portugal,  Roman  mines 
of,  448 

—  now  worked  by  the   Baron   of  Pom- 

morao,  448 

—  account  of  the  works,  448 

Donati,  Vitaliano,  his  account  of  the  fall 

of  a  mountain  near  Sallenches,  122 
Doncaster,   gigantic   fungus   in    a  tunnel 

near,  158 
Donegal,  bursting  of  bogs  in,  131 
Droitwich,  salt-works  of,  432 
Drontheim,  or  Tronyom,  city  of,  324 
Dudley,  Lord,  establishes  iron-works  near 

Stourbridge,  349 
Dufan,in  Arabia,  sulphur  of  the,  446 
Dukinfield  colliery,  depth  of,  247 
Dunfermline,   monastery    of,    obtains    a 

licence  to  dig  coals,  419 
Durham,  coal-fields  of,  403,  407 
Dyeing,  use  of  tin  in  the  processes  of,  335 

EARTHQUAKES,   preceding    volcanic 
eruptions,  65 


ENC 

Earthquakes — continued. 

—  volcanoes    considered   as    the    safety- 

valves  of,  78,  79 

—  but    sometimes    accompany    volcanic 

eruption,  79 

—  extent  of  misery  caused  by,  97-99 

—  the  horrors  of,  increased  by  man,  99 

—  the  progress  of  civilisation  retarded  by 

earthquakes,  99,  100 

—  regions  to  which  they  are  confined,  100 

—  duration  of  the  shocks,  101 

—  indicationsof  a  coming  earthquake,  102 

—  sounds  accompanying  earthquakes,  103 

—  sounds  unaccompanied  by  movement  of 

the  earth,  104 

—  vertical     or     undulatory    motion     of 

shocks,  104 

—  extent  and  force  of  the  seismic  wave 

motion,  105,  106 

—  movements  of  the  sea  in  earthquakes, 

106,  107,  117 

—  extent  of  the  wave  motion,  109 

—  changes  caused  by  earthquakes  in  the 

configuration  of  the  soil,  109,  110 

—  causes  of  earthquakes,  111 

—  probable  depth  of  the  focus,  111,  112 

—  opinions   of   Sir    C.   Lyell    and    Mr. 

Poulett  Scropo,  112 

—  effects  of  an  earthquake  on  man  and 

animals,  112,  113 

—  account   of  the  great   earthquake   of 

Lisbon,  114 
Egg,   Isle  of,  atrocities  of  the  Macleods 

in  the  cave  of  the,  171 
Egypt,  rock-temples  of,  184 

—  tombs  of  the  kings  in  Thebes,  202-204 

—  compared  to  an  iron  furnace,  347 

—  quarries  of,  474,  475 

Ehrenberg,  his  discovery  of  the  animated 

dust  of  the  Harmattan,  156 
Eifel,  volcanic  district  of  the,  58 

—  carbonic  acid  gas  springs  of  the,  88 

—  crateriform  hollows,  or  maare,  in  the, 

131 
Eileithyia,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Eimeo,  hole  in  the  island  of,  133 

—  tradition  respecting  this  hole,  133 
Elba,  iron  industry  of,  362 
Elephanta,  rock-temples  of,  183 
Elevations  of  the  land  produced  by  earth- 
quakes, 111 

Elfdal,  porphyry  of,  467 
Ellora,  rock-temples  of,  183 
Emerald,  or  beryl,  491,  492 
Emery,  whence  obtained,  463 

—  total  production  of,  463 
Emmanuel,  St.,  church  of,  in  Abyssinia,  1 87 
Ems,  hot  springs  of,  43 

Enamel,  materials  used  for,  335 
Encrinites    lily,    called    '  St.    Cuthbert's 

beads,'  181 
Encrinus  liliiformis,  fossil,  17,  18 


508 


INDEX, 


ENG 

Engihoul,  human  remains  in  the  cavern 
of,  226 

—  Dr.  Schmerling's  explorations,  226 

—  Sir  C.  Lyell's,  227 

Engis,    human   bones   discovered   in  the 

cavern  of,  226 
Engines,  stationary,  used  in  mines,  263 
England,  subsidence  of  the  land  on  the 

west  and  east  coasts  of,  36,  37 
- —  effects  of  a  violent  earthquake  in,  100 

—  shocks  felt  in,  at  various  times,  100, 

101 

—  effects  of  the  great  earthquake  of  1755 

in,  118 

—  the  extinct  hyena  of,  found  in  caves, 

214 

—  ossiferous  caves  in,  227 

—  flint  implements  found  in,  231 

—  main  causes  of  the  prosperity  of,  245 

—  copper  mines  of,  316 

—  manufacture  of  iron  in,  349 

—  lead  mines  of,  365,  366 

—  zinc  produced  in,  381,  382 

—  vast  deposits  of  coal  of,  402,  403 

—  and  their  convenient  distribution,  403 

—  extent  of  the  Great  Central  Coal-field, 

406 

—  quarries  of,  464 

Eozoon  canadense,  the  only  fossil  found 
in  the  Laurentian  rocks,  10 

—  its  extreme  antiquity,  10 

Epomeo,  volcano  of,  its  long  periods  of 

rest,  58 
Erasinos,    in    Greece,    antiquity    of  the 

spring  of,  44 
Ernst  August  Stollen,  in  the  Harz,  271 
Erzberg,    or   iron    mountain,    in   Styria, 

358 

—  works  at,  and  produce  of,  359 
Esquimaux,  their  iron  implements,  347 
Estrello  do  Sul,  or  Star  of  the  South,  dia- 
mond, 487 

Etna,  Mount,  M.  Houel's  exploration  of 
the  crater  of,  55 

—  streams  of  lava  in  the  eruption  of  1669, 
70 

■ —  numbers   of  parasitic    cones   on    the 
flanks  of,  71 

—  rate  of  progress  of  the  lava-stream  of 

1699,  72 

—  retention  of  heat  in  the  lava- stream 

of  1832,  73 

—  the  Fossa  della  Palomba  on,  147 

—  ice-caves  of,  198 

—  troglodytic  caverns  of  the  Cyclops  at 

the  base  of,  232 
Euripides,  his  triumph,  476 
Europe,  volcanoes  of,  61 
Eurypterids,  of  the  Silurian  seas,  12 


FUN 

FAHLUN,  horses   used  in   the   copper 
mines  of,  262 

—  narrow  escape  in  the  mine,  264 

—  copper-mine  of,  322 

—  ore  of  the  mine,  323 

—  the  preserved  body  found  in,  323 
Ferdinand,    Archduke,    his   visit   to   the 

Cave  of  Magdalena,  166 
Fez,  effects  of  the  earthquake  of  1755  at, 

118 
Fingal's  Cave,  Sir  W.  Scott's  description 

of,  143 
Fino,  Don  Andrea  del,  narrative  of,  in  an 

earthquake,  99 
Fire,  its  eternal  strife  with  water,  1,  2 

—  the  subterranean  forces,-  7 
Fire-damp,  or  carburetted  hydrogen,  278 

—  fatal  explosions  caused  by,  281 

Fish  disgorged  by  volcanoes  from  caverns, 
69 

—  blind  cavern,  of  the  Mammoth  Cave  of 

Kentucky,  168 

—  of  the  Upper  Silurian  group,  13 

—  destruction   of  vast   numbers   of,  by 

volcanic  eruption,  15,  16 
Flintshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Flores,   Padre,  his   silver   mine   of  '  La 

Bolsa  de  Dios  Padre,'  304 
Florins,  or  fiorini,  origin  of,  287 
Fontaine-sans-fond,  the.  near  Sable,  149 
Footprints  of  former  ages,  preservation  of, 

28,  29 
Forests,  submarine,  in  various  places,  36 
Fossils,   chronological  importance   of,  to 

the  geologist,  5,  6,  8 

—  extinction  of  species,  9,  10,  14 

—  those  of  the  oldest  and  later  periods, 

10-29 
Fountains,  artificial,  principle  on  which 
they  are  constructed,  42 

—  of  lava,  71,  72 

—  of  marine  caverns,  146 

Foxdale  lead  mine,  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  366 
Frais  Puits,  phenomenon  of  the,  150 
France,  effects  of  the  great  earthquake  of 
1755  in,  118 

—  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  consumption  of  coal  in,  423 
Frauenmauer  Mountain  in  Upper  Styria, 

ice-cave  of  the,  196,  197 
Fredonia,   town    of,   lit    by    springs    of 

carburetted  hydrogen,  90 
Freiberg,  drainage  of  the  mines  of,  270 
French,  their  atrocities  in  the  Cave  of 

Longara,  170 

—  their  cruelty  in  Algeria,  176 
Frio,  Serro  do,  diamonds  of  the,  480 
Fuegians,  'shell  mounds'  of  the,  222 
Fumaroles  or  steam-jets  of  volcanoes,  63 
— those  of  Jorullo  of  1759  seen  in  1803,  74 
Fungi,  subterranean,  157 

—  Scopoli's  description  of,  157 


INDEX. 


509 


FUN 

Fungi — continued. 

—  gigantic  one  at  Doncaster,  158 

—  the     artificial     mushroom-beds    near 

Paris,  158 
Furnaces,  reverberatory,  321 


GALLICIA,  salt  mines  of,  436 
Ganoid  fishes  of  the  Upper  Silurian 

group,  13 
Garnet,  the,  494 

Garnock  river  bursts  into  a  colliery,  276 
Gas-springs,  88 
Gellivara,  in  Swedish  Lapland,  mounds  of 

magnetic  iron-ore  at,  360 
Gems,  superstitious  power  of,  477 
Geological   revolutions,   influence  of,  on 

the  earth-rind,  1 

—  tabular  geological  profile,  3 

—  periods  of  geological  formations,  5 

—  the  same  mineral  substances  in  the 

oldest  and  newest  formations,  5 

—  guidance  of  the  geologist  in  ascertain- 

ing the  periods  of  the  formations,  5 

—  a   continuous   development    to    more 

highly  organised  species,  6 
Georges,  St.,  ice-cave  of,  192 

—  entrance  to  the  glaciere  of,  201 
Georg  Stollen,  great  adit  levels  of  the,  in 

the  Harz,  270 
Germain,  St.,  artificial  mushroom-beds  at, 

158 
Germany,  effects  of  the  great  earthquake 

of  1755  in,  118 

—  copper  mines  of,  325 

—  lead  mines  of  North  Germany,  365 

—  coal-fields  of,  422 

—  consumption  of  coal  in,  423 

—  quarries  of,  464 

Gibraltar,  Eock  of,  monkeys  of  the,  24 
Girgenti,  town  and  trade  of,  442 

—  the  sulphur  mines  of,  442 

Glass,  stained,    colours   of,  how  formed, 

335 
Glenmalure,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Glyptodon,  size  and  characteristics  of  the, 

25 
Goaves,   or  old  workings  in  coal  mines, 

fire-damp  in,  279 
Goeppert,  Professor,  his  observations  on 

the  extinct  amber- tree,  451 
Goethe,  his  remarks  on  the  great  Lisbon 

earthquake,  119 
Goffin,  Hubert,  his  heroism,  275 

—  his  future  career,  276 

Gold,  antiquity   of  man's  knowledge  of, 
285 

—  the  story  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  285 

—  statues  of  gold  in  ancient  temples,  285 

—  quantities  of  gold  possessed  by  ancient 

monarchs,  286 

—  earliest  use  of  the  metal,  287 


GYP 

Gold— continued. 

—  auriferous     land      of     the      Iberian 

peninsula,  288 

—  California  and  Australia,  288,  289 

—  British   Columbia   and   other   places, 

293 

—  localities  in  which  gold  is  deposited, 

293,  294 
Goldau,  Vale  of,  devastated  by  a  land- 
slip, 123 

—  destruction  of  the  village  of,  124 
Golden  Fleece,  story  of  the,  285 
Golubinas,  or  pigeon-holes,  in  Dalmatia 

and  Carniola,  130 
Goniatites  of  the  Carboniferous  period,  1 8 

—  extinction  of  the,  1 8 

Good   Hope,   Cape  of,  upheaval  of   the 

land  at  the,  34 
Goroblagodat,  Kuschwa,  platinum  of,  382 
Gortyna,  in  Crete,  labyrinth  of,  174,   175 
Gosforth  Colliery,  409 
Gothard,    Mount    St.,    proposed    tunnel 

through,  241 
Gower,  bone-cave  of,  228 
Grace-Dieu,  glaciere  of,  192 

—  stalagmites  of  ice  in  the,  193,  194 
Graham's  Island,  volcanic  formation  of,  59 

—  its  disappearance,  59 

Granada,  New,  extent  of  the  wave-motion 
of  an  earthquake  at,  105 

Granada,  in  Spain,  destruction  of  the 
Moors  of,  173 

Graphite.     See  Plumbago. 

Grasshopper,  wing  of,  of  the  Carbonife- 
rous period,  15 

Greece,  subterranean  water-courses  of,  150 

—  consecrated  caves  and  grottoes  of,  187 
Greenhouses   kept  warm   by  water  from 

Artesian  wells,  50 
Greenland,  evidence  of  subsidence  of  the 

land  at,  37 
Grenelle,  heat  of  the  Artesian  well  of,  at 

various  depths,  32,  49 
Grenier,  Mount,  landslip  of,  127 
Grosmont,  iron  manufacture  of,  355 
Guacharo,  the  Cueva  del,  160,  161 
Guacharo,  a  troglodytic  bird,  160,  161 

—  wholesale  slaughter  of,  by  the  Indians, 

161,  162 

—  where  found,  160,  162 
Gualgayoc,  the  ventanillas  of,  133 
Gualgayoc,   Cerro  de    San  Fernando  de, 

silver  mines  of,  309,  311 
Guanaxuato,  subterranean   noises    heard 

at,  without  earthqiiake,  104 
Guanaxuato,  rise  of  the  town  of,  302 
Guatemala,  volcanoes  near  the  town  of,  61 
Guadiana,  engulfment  of  the  river,  150 
Gunpowder,  amount  of,  used  in  blasting 

in  mines,  260 
Gwennap,  copper  mines  of,  317 
Gypsum,  origin  of,  4 


510 


INDEX. 


HAG 

HAGGAR  Silsilis,  in  Egypt,  quarries 
of,  475 
Haiti,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  34 
Hann,  Professor,  a  coal-hewer  in  early 

life,  419 
Hanover,  iron  manufacture  of,  357 
Harmattan,  animated  dust  of  the,  156 
Hartlepool,  export  of  coal  from,  413 
Hartley  Colliery,  accident  in  the,  253 
Harz  Mountains,  subterranean  flora  of  the, 

158 

—  ice-caves  of  the,  197 

—  great  adit  levels  of  the  mines  in  the,  270 
Haussmann,  Professor,  his   visit   to   the 

Norwegian  copper  mine  of  Roraas,  324 
Hawaii,  effect  of  the  eruption  of  Mauna 
Loa  in  1840,  76 

—  effects  of  an  earthquake  sea-wave  at, 
109 

Heat,  subterranean,  31 

—  zone  of  invariable  temperature,  31,  32 

—  increasing  temperature   at   a   greater 

depth,  32 

—  rate  of  increase,  32 

—  proof  everywhere   of  a  subterranean 

source  of  heat,  32 
Heaton,  accident  at  the  colliery  of,  273 
Herculaneum,  destruction  of  the  town  of, 
81-85 

—  the  mud-stream  which  caused  the  de- 

struction, 85 

■ —  discovery  of  the  buried  town,  86 

Hermits,  caves  of,  178 

Hermits,  numbers  of,  in  rock-caves  and 
huts  in  the  East,  179 

Herodotus,  his  mention  of  the  Cassiterides, 
333 

Hetton  Colliery,  ventilation  of  the,  278 

Hiera,  volcanic  island  of,  60 

Hilda,  St.,  colliery  and  galleries  of,  410 

Himmelfurst,  in  Saxony,  silver-fields  of, 
299 

Hindostan,  coal-fields  of,  424 

Hoffmann,  G.  F.,  his  description  of  the 
subterranean  flora  of  the  Harz  Moun- 
tains, 158 

Holland,  earthquakes  felt  in,  101 

—  effects  of  the  great  earthquake  of  1755 

in,  118 
Homer,  tin  ornaments  mentioned  by,  332 
Honduras,  coal-fields  of,  424 
Horses  used  in  mines,  262 
Hot-springs  in  the  frozen  lands  as  well  as 
in  the  tropics,  33 

—  as  a  vent  of  subterranean  heat,  33 
Houel,  M.,  his  dangerous  exploration  of 

the  crater  of  Mount  Etna,  55 
Howitt,  William,  his  description  of  ship- 
ping coal  on  the  T}me,  412 
Huancayo,  the  Franciscan  monk  of,  313 
Huatulco,  fountains  of  marine  caverns  in, 
146 


IRO 

Huel  Wherry,  rise  and  fall  of  the  tin-mine 

of,  339 
Humboldt,  M.,  his  visit  to  the  volcano  of 

Eucu-Pinchincha,  55 

—  his  treatise  on  subterranean  fungi,  158 
Huancavelica,  quicksilver  mine  of,  378 
Hungary,  ice-caves  of,  197 

—  salt  mines  of,  436 

Hutton,  Dr.,  a  coal-hewer  in  early  life,  419 
Hydrostatic  laws  regarding  the  flow  of 

springs,  40,  41 
Hyena,  remains  of,  found  in  caves,  213,  214 


IBARRA,  supposed  causes  of  a  fever  at, 
70 
Iberian  peninsula,  auriferous  land  of,  288 
Ice,  effect  of  the  meeting  of  a  lava-stream 

with,  74 
Ice-caves  and  their  phenomena,  193-201 
Iceland,  volcanic  formation  of,  4 
Iceland,  geysirs  of,  45-48 

—  Bunsen's  theory  of  the  causes  of  the 

geysirs  of,  47,  48 

—  volcanoes  of,  61 

—  mud-volcanoes  of,  93 

—  ice-caves  of,  198 

Ichthyosaurus    communis,  characteristics 
and  size  of  the,  20,  21 

—  where  found,  22 

Idria,  fungi  of  the  mines  of,  158 

—  quicksilver  mines  of,  373-378 

Iktis,  island  of,  mentioned  by  Diodorus 

Siculus,  333 
Iguauodon,  size  and  characteristics  of  the, 

22 
Ilezk,  rock-salt  deposit  of,  438 
Illinois,  coal-fields  of,  424 
India,  mud-volcanoes  of,  93 

—  rock-temples  of,  181 
Indiana,  coal-fields  of,  424 

Indies,  West,  earthquakes  of,  100,  101 
Insects  enclosed  in  amber,  452-455 
Ipsamboul,  rock-temple  of,  184 

—  Warburton's  description  of  it,  184-186 
Ireland,  effects  of  the  great  earthquake  of 

1755  in,  118 

—  coal-fields  of,  404 

—  why  they  are  so  little  worked,  404 
Iron,  its  value,  345 

—  its  wide  diffusion,  345 

—  meteoric  iron,  347 

—  ancient  knowledge  of,  347 

—  extension  of  its  uses  in  modern  times, 

348 

—  British  iron  production,  348 

—  smelting,  349 

—  the  hot  blast,  353 

—  the  Cleveland  district  and  the  trade  of 

Middlcsborough,  354 

—  amount  and  value  of  the  British  iron 

trade,  355 


INDEX. 


511 


IRO 

rem — continued. 
Iron,  other  statistics  of  the  trade,  356 

—  production  of  foreign  countries,  357- 

363 
Irtysch,  copper  and  coal  near  the,  326 
Isalco,  formation  of  the  volcano  of,  59 
■ —  in  a  constant  state  of  eruption,  62 
Iscalonga,  in  Basilicata,  cave-dwellings  of, 

234 
Iserlohn,   in  Westphalia,  discovery  of  a 

cavern  at,  135 
Ispica,  Val  d',  cave-dwellings  in  the,  232 
Istria,  subterranean  water-courses  of,  150 
Italy,  mud- volcanoes  of,  93 

—  earthquakes  of,  100 

—  effects  of  the  earthquake  of  1 755  in,  118 

—  maare,  or  crateriform  hollows,  of,  132 

—  cave-dwellings  of  Southern,  234 

—  iron  industry  of,  362 

Iwogasima,  or  Sulphur  Island,  of  Japan, 
444 


JAPAN,  sulphur  of,  444 
Java ,  number  of  active  volcanoes  of,  6 1 

—  the  '  Valley  of  Death,'  or  Poison  Val- 

ley, of,  89 

—  mud- volcanoes  of,  93 

—  maare,  or  crateriform  hollows,  of,  132 

—  sulphur  of,  445,  446 

Jesuits,  their  intrigues  during  the  earth- 
quake at  Lisbon,  116 
Jet,  formation  of,  429 

—  found  at  Whitby,  429 

—  manufacture  of  jet  ornaments,  430 
John  the  Evangelist,  St.,  his  cave  in  the 

Isle  of  Patmos,  18S 

—  the  cave  converted  into  a  chapel,  188 
Jorullo,  formation  of  the  volcano  of,  58 

—  length  of  time  the  heat  was  retained 

in  the  lava-stream  of  1759,  74 
Judd,    Dr.,    his   dangerous    visit    to   the 

crater  of  Kilauea,  56 
Jura  Mountains,  cauldron-shaped  depres- 
sions in  the,  130 


I7"AB,  El,  in  Upper  Egypt,  rock-hewn 
x.     cemeteries  of,  205 
Kamtschatka,  energy  of  the  volcanoes  of, 

61 
—  earthquakes  in,  in  1737,  79 
Kan,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Kanara,  rock-temples  of,  181-183 
Kaolin,    or  china-clay,  how  formed,  and 

where,  460-462 
Karli,  rock-temples  of,  183 
Kea,  Mount,  tranquillity  of  the  eruption 

of,  in  1843,  76 
Kentucky,  coal-fields  of,  424 
Kertsch,  mud-volcanoes  near,  93 


LAU 

Kilauea,  the  lava  lakes  of,  64 

—  length  of  the  lava-stream  in  the  erup- 

tion of  1840,  70 

—  amount   of  lava   thrown   out  by  the 

eruption  of  1810,  76 

Killingworth  Colliery,  410 

Kingston,  in  Jamaica,  effects  of  an  earth- 
quake sea- wave  at,  107 

Kinsale,  effect  of  an  earthquake  sea-wave 
in  the  harbour  of,  118 

Kirghise  hordes,  their  salt-works,  438 

Kirkdale,  Dr.  Buckland's  account  of  the 
ossiferous  cave  of,  214,  215 

Klaproth,  his  discovery  of  uranium,  385 

—  works  at  Joachimsthal,  385 

—  his  discovery  of  rutile,  or  titanium, 
386 

Kliutschewskaja  Skopa,   eruption  of  the 

volcano  of,  79 
Koh-i-Noor,  or  Mountain  of  Light,  dia- 
mond and  its  history,  486 
Kohl,  uses  of,  383 
Kongsberg,  in  Norway,  silver  mines  of, 

299 

—  nuggets  found  at,  299 
Kopperberg,  iron  manufacture  of,  360 
Kotlingia,  effects  of  the   eruption  of,  in 

1758,  69 
Kremnitz,  discovery  of  the  gold  mines  of, 

248 
Krisuvick,  in  Iceland,  solfajtara  of,  444 
Kupferschiefer,  or  copper-slate,  of  Thu- 

ringia,  fossils  of  the,  15 


LABUAN,  coal-fields  of,  424 
Lacustrine  dwellings  of  Switzerland, 
315 

—  discovery  of  the,  223 

—  ancient  iron  weapons  found  in  the,  347 
Laibach,  Upper,  river  traversing  the  caves 

of,  150 
Lalibala,  rock- churches  of,  186 

—  town  of,  and  country  round,  187 
Landslips,  effects  of  earthquakes  in  pro- 
ducing, 110 

—  that  of  Putley,  in  Hertfordshire,  110 

—  igneous  and  aqueous  causes  of  land- 

slips, 121 

—  cases  of  landslips,  121-128 

—  caused  by  the  falling  in  of  cavern-roofs, 

129 
Lanuto  volcano,  lake  formed  in  the  extinct 

crater  of  the,  57 
Lapis  lazuli,  494 
Lapland,  auriferous  veins  in,  293 
Laureacum,  on  the  Danube,  Roman  iron 

manufactures  at,  358 
Laurentian  rocks,  2,  3 

—  their  thickness,  2 

—  the  only  fossil  found  in  the,  10 
Laurium,  ancient  silver  mines  of,  298 


512 


INDEX. 


LAU 

Laurium — continued. 

—  amount  of  load  in  the  scoriae  of  the 

ancient  silver  mines  of,  367 
Lara,    formation    of    fiery   streams     of, 
during  volcanic  eruptions,  70 

—  phenomena   attending   the   flow  of  a 

lava-stream,  72 

—  effect  of  the  meeting  of  a  lava-stream 

with  the  sea,  73 

—  and  with  ice,  74 

—  vast  dimensions  of  lava-streams,  74-76 

—  waste  of  desolation  of  lava-fields,  77 

—  progress  of  lava-streams,  77 

Laxey  lead  mine,  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  366 
Lead,  mine  of,  in  Cardiganshire,  section 
of  a,  252 

—  its  property  and  uses,  364 

—  its  antiquity,  364 

—  the  mines  of,  in  Europe,  365 

—  production   of,   in   foreign    countries, 

366-368 

—  preparation  of  the  ores,  368 

—  Pattinson's  process,  368 
Leadhills,  in  Lanarkshire,  lead  mines  of, 

366 
Lebadeia,  in  Bceotia,  cave  of  Trophonios 

near,  187 
Lepidodendron  elegans,  392 
Leptodirus  Hochenwartii,  of  the  Cave  of 

Adelsberg,  163 
Levant,  Cornish  copper  mine  of,  319 
Levels,  in  mining,  251 

—  extent  of  the  works  in  some  cases,  251 

—  drainage  by  adit  levels,  269,  270 
Lias,  fossils  of  the,  19 

Liege,  depth  of  the  coal  mines  of,  247 

—  accident  in  a  colliery  at,  263 

Life,  organic,  progress  of,  on  earth,  28,  29 

—  everywhere  present  on  the  earth,  156 
Lignite,  or  wood-coal,  401 

Lima,  frequency  of  earthquakes  at,  1 05 

—  displacement  of  stones  of  obelisks  by 

earthquake  shocks,  105 

—  effects  of  the  earthquake  sea-wave  of 

1746,  108 

—  indifference  of  the  inhabitants  of,  to 

earthquakes,  113 
Limestone,  magnesian,  or  Permian  group, 

animal  remains  of  the,  15 
Limestone  caves,  136 

—  causes  of  their  excavation,  136 

—  stalactites  and  stalagmites,  139,  140 

—  origin  and  slow  formation  of  limestone, 

141 
Lisbon,  great  earthquake  of,  114 

—  effect  of  the  shock,  114 

• —  fire  and  thieves  in  the  city,  115,  116 

—  total  loss  of  life  from  all  causes,  116 

—  effects  of  this  earthquake  in  various 

parts  of  the  world,  117-119 
Little  Bounds,  copper  mine  of,  319 
Livres,  St.,  ice-caves  of,  192 


MAM 

Livres,  St. — continued. 

—  lower  glaciere  of,  193 

—  upper  glaciere  of,  195 

—  ice-streams  of  the  upper  glaciere,  195, 

196 
Lizards,  oldest  known  fossils  of,  14,  15 

—  the  enormous  species  of  the  Mesozoic 

ocean,  20,  21 
Llandegui,  slate  quarries  of,  469,  470 
Locke,  his  remark  respecting  iron,  345 
Lomond,  Loch,  sea-shells  found  on  the 
banks  of,  34 

—  effects  of  the  great  earthquake  of  1755 

in,  118 
London  shaken  by  the  Lisbon  earthquake 
of  1755,  118 

—  subterranean  wonders  of,  237,  238 
Long,  Major,   his    report  on  the  copper 

mines  of  Lake  Superior,  328 
Longara,  Cave  of,  massacre  by  the  French 

in  the,  170 
Lorca,  sulphur  mine  of,  444 
Lowerz,  destruction  of  the  village  of,  by 

a  landslip,  124 
Luganure,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Luna,  Pope,  waterspout  of,  146 
Lycopolis,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 


MAARE,  or  crateriform  hollows,  of  the 
Eifel,  131 

—  in  other  places,  132 
Macaluba,  mud  volcano  of,  94 

—  known  to  the  ancients,  94 
Madana,  in   Santa  Cruz,    height  of  the 

volcano  of,  54 
Madeira,  volcanic  formation  of,  4 
Madfuneh,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Magdalena    Grotto,   or    '  Black   Grotto,' 

Proteiof  the,  165,  166 

—  visit  of  the  Archduke   Ferdinand   to 

the,  166 

Magnesium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  387 

Magnetic  mountain  in  Russia,  367 

Maina,  marble  of,  467 

Malacca,  tinstone  of,  335 

Malaga,  effects  of  the  earthquake  of  1755 
at,  118 

Malmesbury,  section  of  the  coal-field 
south  of,  398 

Malta,  troglodytes  of,  234 

Malwah,  rock-temples  of,  184 

Mammalia,  geological  period  of  its  pro- 
minence in  life,  23 

Mammoth,  or  primitive  elephant,  size  and 
characteristics  of  the,  26 

—  Professor  Owen's  skeleton  of  the,  217 

—  Gray's  Inn  Lane  an  ancient  hunting- 

ground  for,  231 
Mammoth  Cave,  in   Kentucky,  vast    di- 
mensions of  the,  135,  138 

—  Professor  Silliman  on  the,  139 


INDEX. 


513 


MAM 

Mammoth  Cave — continued. 

—  clusters  of  bats  in  the,  159 

—  animals  of  the,  167 

Man,  Isle  of,  lead  mines  of,  366 
• —  zinc  produced  in,  382 
Man,  prehistoric,  subterranean  relics  of, 
in  Denmark,  221 

—  in  Switzerland,  223 

—  age  of  human  relics  in  caves,  225 
Manchester  Coal-field,  403 
Manganese,  ores  of,  386 

Mansfeldt,  in  Prussia,  silver  and  copper 

mines  of,  325 
Marble  of  Derbyshire  and  Devonshire,  465 

—  that  of  Carrara,  4,  465 

—  that  of  Pentelikon  and  Parian,  466 

—  Kosso  antico  and  Verde  antico,  467 
Marennes,  upheaval  of  the  chalk  cliffs  at,  36 
Marpena,  Mount,  in  Paros,  marble  of,  466 
Marquette,  American   town   of,  its  iron 

industry,  362 
Marshall,  James,  his  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  288 

—  his  subsequent  life,  289 
Marsupites  ornatus,  fossil,  18 
Martinique,  Island  of,  destructive  earth- 
quake in  the,  101 

Maryland,  copper  mines  of,  328 
Masaya,  volcanoes  of,  constant  eruption 

of  the,  63 
Massachusetts,  copper  mines  of,  328 
Master-borers  in  the  North  of  England, 

250 
■ —  their  charges  per  fathom,  250 
Mastodon,  where  the  fossils  of,  are  mostly 

found,  27 

—  size  and  characteristics  of  the,  27 
Matlock,  thermal  springs  of,  43 
Mauna  Loa,  in  Hawaii,  shape  of  the  vol- 
cano of.  53,  54 

—  Dr.  Judd's  visit  to,  56 

—  growth  of  ferns  on,  63 

—  the  lava-lakes  of,  64 

—  length  of  the  lava-stream  of  an  erup- 

tion of,  70 

—  parasitic  cones  of,  71 

—  volume  of  the  lava-stream  of  1840,  75 
Maunch  Chunk  (or  Bear  Mountain),  in 

Pennsy lvania, enormous  coal-field of,425 
Mauritius,   fountains  of  marine  caverns 

in,  146 
Mediterranean  Sea,  upheaval  of  the  land 

on  the  shores  of  the,  34 

—  marine  caverns  of  the  coasts  of  the,  144 
Medellin,  the  proprietor  of  the  mine  of 

Dolores,  303 
Meerfeld,  crateriform  hollow  and  lake  of, 

132 
Megatherium,  size  and  characteristics  of 

the,  24,  25 
Melidoni,   cave  of,  Turkish  massacre  in 

the,  175 


MIN 

Mequinez,   effects  of  the   earthquake  of 

1755  at,  118 
Mercado,  Cerrodel,  of  Mexico,  363 
Mercury,  its  properties  and  uses,  370,  371 

—  known  to  the  Greeks  and  Komans,  370 

—  mines  of  Almaden,  371 

—  those  of  Idria,  373 

—  diseases  to  which  the  miners  are  liable, 

373 

—  mines  of  America,  378 

Metallic  veins,   how   generally  found  in 
mines,  246 

—  how  ores  collected  or  precipitated  in,  247 
Metam orphic  rocks,  origin  of,  4,  5 
Meteoric  iron,  347 

—  the  mass  found  at  Otumpa,  347  note 
Mettler,  Blasi,  story  of  the  escape  of  him 

and  his  wife,  124 
Mettler,  Sebastian  Meinhardt,  his  escape 

from  destruction,  125 
Meuse,  ossiferous  caverns  of  the  valley  of 

the,  226 
Mexico,  silver  mines  of,  300-308 

—  iron  ores  of,  363 

Michael's  Mount,  St.,  in  Cornwall,  333 
Middlesborough,  its  rapid  rise,  354 

—  its  iron  manufacture,  355 

Miguel,  Island  of,  the  Punta  Delgada  of 

the,  147 
Milagros,  his  silver  mine  in  San  Luis  de 

Potosi,  308 
Miller,  Hugh,  his  account  of  a  coal  forest, 

393 
Milo,  Island  of,  mud  volcanoes  of,  93 

—  sulphur  caves  of  the  island  of,  446 
Mina  Grande,  lead  mine  of,  367 
Minardo,  Monte,    near   Bronte,  volcanic 

formation  of,  67 

—  height  of,  71 
Mines,  in  general,  244 

—  labours  and  perils  of  the  miner,  244, 245 

—  casualties  in  mines,  245 

—  life  in  a  mine,  245,  246 

—  length  and  depth  of  mines,  247 

—  discoveries  of  lodes,  248 

—  the  divining-rod,  248 

—  boring,  249 

—  divisions  in  coal  mines,  255 

—  long-wall  working,  257 

—  general  view  of  mining  operations,  257 

—  tools  employed  in  Cornwall,  258 

—  mode  of  blasting,  258 

—  heroism  of  miners,  259,  274 

—  mode  of  loosening  hard  stones,  260,  261 

—  tramways  underground,  and  the  con- 

veyance of  minerals,  261,  262 

—  methods  of  descending,  263-266 

—  man-engines  for  ascending  or  descend- 

ing, 267 

—  timbering  and  draining,  268-272 

—  inundation,  or  drowning  of  mines,  273 

—  evolution  of  foul  gases,  276,  277 


L    L 


514 


INDEX. 


MIN 

Mines — continued. 

—  ventilation,.  277 

—  choke-damp,  fire-damp,  and  blowers, 

278,  279 

—  the  safety-lamp,  280 

—  burning  mines,  283 

—  habits  of  the  Mexican  miners,  302 
Minnesota  mine,  copper  of,  327,  328 

—  enormous  nugget  of  copper  found  near, 

328 
Miocene  period,  animals  of  the,  23 
Mirrors  of  silver  among  the  Romans,  298 
■ —  substance  used  for  making,  335 
Mississippi,  ancient  mounds  in  the  valley 

of  the,  224 
Missouri,  '  iron-mountains  '  of.  362 
Moa,  the  great  extinct  bird  of  New  Zea- 
land, 216,  217 

—  the  cave  of  the  Moa,  219 
Moeris,  Lake,  hermits  near  the,  179 
Molinos  of  the  silver  mines  of  Mexico,  306 
Molybdenum,  discovery  and  uses  of,  387 
Monarchs,  vast  treasures  of,  in  ancient 

times,  286 
Monkeys,  fossil,  of  South  America,  charac- 
teristics of  the,  24 

—  small  species  of,  on  the  Rock  of  Gib- 
raltar, 24 

Monk  Wearmouth  Colliery,  408 
Montano,  Francisco,  his  descent  into  the 

crater  of  Popocatepetl,  446 
Monte,  Real  del,  silver  mines  of,  304 
■ —  present  yield  of,  305 
Monte  Video,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  34 
Montgomeryshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 
Montmartre,  gypsum  and  alabaster  of,  468 
Montrouge,  artificial  mushroom-beds  at, 

158 
Moors   of    Granada,   destruction   of,    by 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  173 
Moran,  silver  mines  of,  304 
Morocco,  earthquakes  of,  100 

—  effects  of  the  earthquake  of  1755  at, 
118 

Morran,  in  Algeria,  Artesian  well  in  the 

desert  of,  51 
Mososaurus,  size  and  characteristics  of  the, 

23 

—  skull  of  the,  found,  473,  474 
Moulin  de  la  Roche,  artificial  mushroom- 
beds  at,  158 

Mountain  Ash,  in  South  Wales,  coal 
workings  of  the  New  Navigation  Pit  at, 
406 

Mud-streams  caused  by  volcanic  eruptions 
69 

—  destruction  of  Herculaneum  and  Pom- 

peii by,  85 

—  those  of  Obu,  95 
Mud-volcanoes,  93-96 

—  in  various  places,  93-95 

—  origin  of,  95,  96 


NOR 

Murchison,    Sir   Roderick,   his    surmises 

respecting  gold  in  Australia,  289 
Miirtschenstock,  tunnel  in  the,  134 
Mushrooms,  subterrannean,  157 

—  the     artificial     mushroom-beds     near 

Paris,  158 
Musk-ox,  food  of  the,  26 
Mylodon,  size  and  characteristics  of  the, 
24,  25 

—  Professor  Owen's  skeleton  of  the,  217 


NAPLES,  earthquake  in,  in  1857,  98 
—  catacombs  of,  210 
Nassau,  iron  manufacture  of,  357 
Nativity,  grotto  of  the,  at  Bethlehem,  188 

—  church  of  the,  188 

Nanheim,  carbonic  acid  gas  spring  of,  88 
Naxos,  consecrated  caves  to  Dionysos  in, 

187 
Naxos,  emery  of  the  island  of,  463 
Neil  son,  Mr.,  his  discovery  of  the  hot  blast 

for  iron  furnaces,  353 
Nemi,  Lake    of,   the  crateriform   hollow 

forming  the,  132 
Nent  Force  Level,  great  drain  of,  270 
Nertschinsk,    in    Transbaikalia,    copper 

mines  of,  326 

—  lead  mines  of,  367 

Nettuno,  Antro  di,  in  Sardinia,  144 
Nettuno,  Grotta  di,  in  Sicily,  145 
Neusalzwerk,  temperature  of  the  well  of, 

at  various  depths,  32 
Nevada,  state  of  silver  mines  of  the,  314 
Newcastle,  coal-fields  of,  407 

—  their  extent,  408 

—  the  various  seams  of  coal,  408 

—  human  activity  of  the  coal-fields,  411, 

412 

—  appearance  of  the  town,  413 

—  first  licence  to  dig  coals  given  to  the 

town,  419 
Newfoundland,  gradual  upheaval  of  the 
land  of,  36 

—  fountains  of  marine  caverns  in,  146 
Niagara,    carburetted    hydrogen   evolved 

near  the  falls  of,  93 
Nicaragua,  Lake  of,  volcanoes  near  the,  6 1 
Nicaragua,  mud-volcanoes  of,  93 

—  earthquakes  of,  100 

Nicholas,  St.,  rock-chapel  of,  in  Crete,  189 

—  legend  of,  190 
Nickel,  name  of,  384 

—  uses  of,  and  whence  obtained,  384 
Nicolas  d'Aliermont,  St.,  aquiferous  layers 

or  beds  of  stone  at,  40 

Noises,  subterranean,  accompanying  earth- 
quakes, 103 

Normandy,  traces  of  depression  of  the 
land  on  the  coast  of,  37 

Norr  Lake,  emptied  by  a  landslip,  130 

Northumberland,  coal-fields  of,  403 


INDEX. 


515 


NOR 

North  wich,  salt  mines  of,  431 
Norway,  copper  mines  of,  324 
Noss,  islet  of,  its  marine  caves,  142 
Notornis,  Professor  Owen's  reconstruction 

of  the,  217 
Nuovo,  Monte,  in  the  Bay  of  Baiae,  vol- 
canic formation  of  the,  67 


OBERSTEIN,  rock-chapel  of,  190 
—  legend  of  the  chapel,  190,  191 
Obregon  works  the  silver  mine  of  Gua- 
naxuato,  301,  302 

—  his  title  and  urbanity  of  character,  302 
Obu,  eruption  of  the,  95 

—  mud-streams  of,  95 

Oche,  Dent  d',  landslip  of  the,  127 

Oesterby,  iron-works  cf,  360 

Ohio,  ancient  mounds  in  the  valley  of  the, 

224 
'  Oil  harvest'  of  Caripe,  161 
Olm,  or  Proteus,  discovery  of  the,  164,  165 

—  various  places  in  which  it  has  been 

found,  166 

—  description  of  the  animal,  165-167 
Olonne,  Island  of,  upheaval  of  the  land 

round  the,  36 
Onyx,  the,  497 
Ontanagon  district,  in  America,  ancient 

copper  mines,  327 
Oolite  rocks,  their  thickness,  2 
Oolitic  period,  fossils  of  the,  19,  22 
Opal,  precious,  495 

—  mines  of,  in  Hungary,  495 
Ophir,  seat  of,  287 

Ores,  how  generally  found  in  mines,  246 

—  how  they  have  been  collected  or  pre- 

cipitated, 247 
'  Orkneyman's  Harbour,  The,'  the  marine 

cavern  so  called,  143 
Oroomiah,  Lake,  in  Persia,  salt  of  the 

hills  and  plains  of,  437 
Orthoceratites  of  the  primitive  seas,  1 8 

—  extinction  of  the,  18 

Oscillatory  movements  of  the  earth,  34-37 

—  probable  causes  of,  38 

Otero,  a  shopkeeper,  joins  in  working  the 

mine  of  Guanaxuato,  302 
Owen,  Professor,  his  memoir  and  skeleton 

of  the  great  Moa  of  New  Zealand,  217 
Owls,  cave-haunting,  160 


PACHUCA,  silver  mines  of,  304 
Pachyderms,  remains  of  large  extinct, 
26,  27 
Palseotheriums,  size  and  characteristics  of, 

23 
Palseopteryx,  Professor  Owen's  reconstruc- 
tion of  the,  217 
Palladium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  388 
Palestine,  Southern,  hermits  in,  179 


PHA 

Palomba,  Fossa  della,  on  Etna,  147 
Papalardo,  Baron,  his  efforts  to  divert  the 

lava-stream  from  Catania,  72,  73 
Parian  marble,  or  Lychnites,  466 
Paris,  artificial  mushroom-beds  near,  158 

—  catacombs  of,  210,  211 

—  old  cemeteries  of,  211 

—  plaster  of,  468 

Parsees,  their  worship  of  fire,  91 

—  their  legend  of  the  devil,  91 

—  their  occupation  and  abandonment  of 

Baku,  92 
Pasco,  Cerro  di,  silver  mines  of,  309 
Pasco,  mining  town  of,  310 

—  mines  of,  310,  311 

Patmos,  cave  and  church  of  St.  John  the 

Evangelist,  188 
Paul,  St.,  of  Thebes,  the  first  hermit,  his 

cave,  178 
Pausilippo,  Grotto  of,  241 

—  origin  of  the,  242 
Paviland,  ossiferous  caves  of,  215 
Peak,  in  the  Island  of  Timor,  blown  up 

and  replaced  by  a  cavity,  68 
Pecopteris  adiantoides,  391 
Peniscola,  fountains  of  marine  caverns  in, 

146 
Pennsylvania,  copper  mines  of,  328 

—  coal-fields  of,  425 

—  petroleum  springs  of,  427 
Pentacrinus  briareus,  fossil,  17,  18 
Pentelikon,  or  Mount  Penteles,  marble  of, 

466 

Pepandajan,  in  Java,  the  volcanic  cone  of, 
blown  to  pieces,  67 

Percy,  Dr.  John,  his  discovery  of  alumi- 
nium-bronze, 387 

Perdix,  Bartholomew,  his  manufacture  of 
alum,  458 

Permian  period,  fishes  of  the,  1 3 

—  fossils  of  the,  15 
Peroxide  of  tin,  or  tinstone,  335 

—  richest  deposits  of,  335 

Perticara  di  Talamella  in  Italy,  sulphur 

mines  of,  444 
Peru,  active  volcanoes  of,  61 

—  earthquakes  of,  100 

—  indifference  of  man  in,  to  earthquakes, 

113 

—  silver  mines  of,  300 

—  iron  furnaces  of,  353 

Peter's  Mount,  St.,  near  Maestricht, 
quarries  of,  470 

—  visit  of  Faujas  de  Saint-Fond,  472 
Petroleum,  formation  of,  426 

—  old  springs  of,  in  Europe,  426,  427 

—  production  of  the  springs  of  America,  427 
Petrospongidse,  or  stone  sponges,  17 
Pfeiffer,  Ida,  her  visit   to  the  diamond 

mines  of  Borneo,  480 
Pharaohs,  rock-tombs  of  the,  in  Thebes, 
202-204 


l  l   2 


516 


INDEX. 


PHI 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  his  destruction  of  the 
Moors  of  Granada,  173 

Philip,  Port,  town  of,  290 

Philotheus,  St.,  his  cave  on  Mount  Pen- 
teles,  466 

Phoenicians,  their  tin-trade,  333 

—  their  traffic  in  and  uses  of  lead,  364 
Pietra  Mala,  burning  springs  of,  90 
Pigeons,  cave-haunting,  160 

Pilot  Knob  '  iron  mountain,'  362 
Pines,  black,  of  Trinidad,  429 
Pitt,  or  Regent,  diamond,  485 
Pittasphalte,  formation  of,  426 
Piuka  Jama,  cave  of,  154,  155 

—  the  River  Poik  flowing  below  the,  154 
Piz   Mountain,    destructive    effects   of  a 

landslip  of  the,  127 
Planina,  river  traversing  the  Cave  of,  150 

—  explored  by  Adolph  Schmidl,  151 

—  abundance  of  Protei  in  the,  166 
Platinum,  discovery  of,  382 

—  where  obtained,  382 

—  its  qualities,  383 

Playfair,  his  observations  as  to  the  rise  of 

the  land  in  Sweden,  35 
Plesiosaurus,  size  and   characteristics  of 

the,  21 

—  where  found,  22 
Pleurotomaria  carinata,  fossils  of,  15 
Pliny  the  Elder,  death  of,  as  described  by 

his  nephew,  82-84 
Pliocene  period,  animals  of  the,  24 
Plumbago,  graphite,  or  black  lead,  former 

trade  in,  in  Cumberland,  462 

—  the  mine  exhausted,  462 

—  places  where  found  at  present,  462 
Pliirs,  town  of,  buried  by  a  landslip,  127 
Polistena,  effects  of  an  earthquake  at,  98 
Poik  River,  engulfment  and  re-appearance 

of  the,  150 
• —  a  subterranean  canoe  voyage  on  the, 
151-154 

—  the  river  flowing  beneath  the  Piuka 

Jama,  154 
Pombal,  Marquis  of,  his  conduct  in  the 

great  earthquake  of  Lisbon,  116,  117 
Pompeii,  destruction  of  the  town  of.  81-85 

—  the   mud-stream   which    effected    the 

destruction,  85 

—  present  state  of  the  Roman  town  of,  87 
Pontus,  hermits  in,  179 
Popocatepetl,  depth  of  the  crater  of,  54 

—  Montano's  visit  to  the  crater  of,  446 
Porphyry  of  Elfdal,  467 

—  of  the  Altai,  468 
Portugal  earthquakes  of,  100 

Potosi,  San  Luis  de,  silver  mines  of,  303, 

309 
Precious  stones,  477 
Proteus  anguinus,  discovery  of  the,  164, 

165 

—  description  of  the  animal,  165-167 


RIO 

Proteus  anguinus — continued. 

—  its  abundance  in  the  Cave  of  Planina, 
166 

—  different  caverns  in  which  it  has  been 

found,  166 
Prussia,  iron  manufacture  of,  357 

—  production  of  zinc  in,  381 

—  salt-works  of,  438 

Pterichthys  Milleri  of  the  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone of  Scotland,  13,  14 

Pterodactyli,  size  and  characteristics  of 
the,  21 

Pterygotus  acuminatus,  12 

Pulvermaar  of  Gillenfeld,  lake  or  maare 
of,  132 

Puzzuoli,  solfatara  of,  444 


QUARRIES,  celebrated,  464 
—  those  of  France,  464 

—  those  of  England  and  Germany,  464 

—  of  Carrara  and  the  Pentelikon,  465,  466 

—  porphyry,  467,  468 

—  alabaster  and  plaster  of  Paris,  468 

—  slate,  469 

—  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  near  Maestricht, 

470 

—  of  Egypt,  474 
Quicksilver.     See  Mercury. 
Quito,  active  volcanoes  of,  61 

—  tradition  respecting  them,  67 

—  earthquakes  of,  100 


RADOBOY,  sulphur  mines  of,  444 
Rain-prints  of  former  ages,  preser- 
vation of,  29 
Rammelsberg,  in  the  Hartz — silver  mines 
of  the,  299 

—  discovery  of  the  lode  of  the,  248 

—  burning  hard  mineral  stone  in,  260,  261 

—  copper  found  in,  325 

Rat,  blind  cavern,  of  the  Mammoth  Cave 
of  Kentucky,  167 

Rathlin,  island  of,  massacre  by  the  Eng- 
lish under  Sir  John  Norris  in  the,  172 

Ravinazzo  Mountain,  landslip  of  the,  127 

Red-lead,  how  made,  365 

Redruth,  copper  mines  of,  317 

Regla,  Conde  de  la.     See  Terreros. 

Reptiles,  oldest  known  fossils  of,  14,  15 

—  enormous  marine  fossil  reptiles  of  the 

Mesozoic  ocean,  20 

—  footprints  of  reptiles  of  the  Cambrian 

formation,  29 
Rhodium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  388 
Rhosdale,  iron  manufacture  of,  355 
Riobamba,  destruction  of  the  town  of,  78, 
79 

—  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  104 

—  remarkable    displacement    of   objects 

during  the  shocks,  104 


INDEX. 


517 


RIO 

Riobamba — con  tinued. 

—  silence  during  the  shocks,  104 
Kipple-marks  of  former  ages,  preservation 

of,  28,  29 
Rivers,  cave,  149-151 

—  explorations  of  Adolph  Schmidl  in  the 

Cave  of  Planina,  151 
Rochelle,  La,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  36 
Rock-tombs  and  catacombs,  202 
Rock-crystal,  498 

—  the  grotto  of  the  Galenstock,  499 
Roebuck,  Dr.  John,  his  improvements  in 

iron  manufacture,  350 
Romanus,  the  monk,  feeds  St.  Benedict  in 

his  cave,  180 
Rome,  wealth  of,  after  the  third  Punic 

war  and  in  the   time  of  the  Caesars, 

286,  298 

—  gold  coins  of,  287 

Ronciglione,  Lake  of,  formed  in  the  ex- 
tinct crater  of  a  volcano,  57 

Roquefort  cheese,  198 

Roraas  Mountains,  copper  mines  of,  in 
Norway,  324 

Rosa,  Sierra  de  Santa,  301 

—  silver  mines  of  the,  301 

Rosalia,  St.,  rock-church  of,  in  Sicily,  188, 
189 

—  story  of,  and  of  the  discovery  of  her 
bones,  188,  189 

Rossberg,  or  Rufi,  landslip  of  the,  123 

—  causes  of  the  catastrophe,  124 
Rossi,  Monte,  height  and  area  of,  71 
Rossi,  Cavaliere  de,  his  researches  in  the 

catacombs  of  Rome,  210 

Rosso  antico,  467 

Roth,  natural  ice-cave  of,  198 

Rothen,  villages  of  Upper  and  Lower,  de- 
stroyed by  a  landslip,  124 

Royale,  Isle,  ancient  copper  mines  of,  327 

Ruby,  the  oriental,  489 

—  in  the  crown  of  England,  490 
Rucu-Pinchincha,  Humboldt's  view  down 

the  volcano  of,  55 
Russia,  copper  mines  of,  326 

—  iron  manufacture  of,  357,  358 

—  salt-works  of,  437,  438 

—  amber  ornaments  of,  457 

—  the  Imperial  diamond  of,  485 
Rutile,  or  Titanium,  discovery  and  uses 

of,  386,  387 


SAARBRUCK,   oldest  known    reptiles 
found  in  the  coal-field  of,  14 

—  other  wonders  of  the  coal-field  of,  15 

—  vast  time  required  for  the  formation  of 

the  coal-fields  of  the,  397 
Sable,  in  Anjou,  the  Pontaine-sans-fond 

near,  149 
Sabrina,  island  of,  volcanic  formation  of 

the,  59 


SCO 

Sabrina,  island  of — continued. 

—  its  disappearance,  59 

Sacree  Madame,  near  Charleroi,  depth  of 
the  colliery  of,  247 

—  mode  of  ventilation  in  the  mine  of, 

277  note 
Sacro,  Monte,  marble  mountain  of,  465 
Safety-cages,  used  in  descending  mines, 

264,  265 
Safety-lamp.  Davy's,  280 

—  improvements  in  the,  281 

Sahara,  wells  of  the  inhabitants  of  the, 
48,  50 

—  future  importance  of  Artesian  wells 

to,  51 
Sal  amis,  fleet  which  gained  the  battle  of, 

298 
Salcedo,  silver  mine  of,  311 

—  tragical  end  of  its  proprietor,  Don  Jose 

Salcedo,  312 
Sallee,  effects  of  an  earthquake  sea-wave 

at,  118 
Sallenches,  fall  of  a  mountain  near,  122 
Salt,  geological  position  of,  431 

—  the  mines  of  North wich,  431 

—  .those  of  Droitwich  and  Stoke,  432 

—  that  of  Wieliczka,  433-436 

—  in  other  places,  436-439 

—  method  of  preparing  it,  439 

—  origin  of  rock-salt,  440 
Salza,  manufacture  of  salt  at,  439 
Salzburg,  salt  mines  of,  436 

San  Francisco,  its  rapid  rise,  289 
Santorin,  submarine  volcano  of,  60,  61 
Sapphire,  red,  489 

—  oriental,  490 

Sardinia,  cave-dwellers  of,  234 

—  the  dwellings  of  the  Sarde  shepherds 

of  the  present  day,  234 

—  lead  mines  of,  366 

Saviour's,  Our,  tomb  at  Jerusalem,  church 

built  over  the,  188 
Saxony,  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  coal-fields  of,  404 
Shafloch,  ice-cave  of,  194,  195 
Schmerling,   Dr.,  his   investigations    re- 
specting the  antiquity  of  man,  226 

Schemnitz,  fungi  of  the  mines  of,  158 

—  discovery  of  the  rich  mines  of,  248 

—  produce  of  silver  in  the  mines  of,  300 
Schmidl,  Adolph,  his  explorations  of  the 

subterranean  river  Poik   and  Cave  of 
Planina,  151 
Schneeberg,  large  block  of  silver  found  at, 
299 

—  use  made  of  the  burning  vapours,  283 

—  bismuth  of,  383 

Scilano,  village  of,  buried  by  a  landslip, 

127 
Rcilla,  Prince  of,  his  death,  107,  108 
Scopoli,  his  description  of  subterranean. 

fungi,  157 


518 


INDEX. 


SCO 

Scoriae,  length  of  time  the  liquid  fire  is  re- 
tained in  the  interior  of  a  lava-stream, 
73 

Scotland,  lead  mines  of,  366 

—  coal-fields  of,  403 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  his  visit  to  '  The  Ork- 
neyman's  Harbour,'  143 

—  and  to  Fingal's  Cave,  143 

Scrope,  Mr.  Poulett,  his  description  of  the 

Volcano  of  Stromboli,  62 
Sea-shells  found  on  the  Andes  and  Alps, 

34,  37 

—  and  in  other  places  at  present  removed 

from  the  sea,  34 
Sea,  movements  of  the,  in  earthquakes, 
106,  107 

—  extent  of  the  wave-motion,  105,  106 

—  cases  of  the  destructive  effects  of  the 

earthquake  waves,  107-109,  117-110 
Segeberg,  deposit  of  salt  at,  439 
Senegal,  deposits  of  the  Area  senilis  on 

the  banks  of  the  river  inland,  34 
Sequoia,  gigantic  trees  of  the,  28 
Seven  Pagodas,  rock-temples  near  Madras 

so  called,  184 
Seville,  effects  of  the  earthquakes  of  1755 

at,  118 
Shelas,    cave    of,    Colonel   St.    Arnaud's 

massacre  in  the,  176 
*  Shell-mounds  '  of  Denmark,  222 

—  those  of  the  Euegians,  222 
Shetland,  marine  caves  of,  142 

Shields  inlaid  with  silver  in  Homer's  time, 

298 
Siberia,  auriferous  land  of,  288 

—  lead  mines  of,  367 

—  emeralds  of,  491 

Sicanians,  cave-dwellings  of  the  ancient, 

232 
Sicily,  earthquakes  of,  100 

—  marine  grottoes  of,  145 

—  sulphur  mines  of,  441 

Sickingen,   Count,  his  experiments  with 

platinum,  382 
Sidi  Kascheed,  in  Algeria,  Artesian  well 

of,  51 
Sigillaria  oculata,  392 
Silurian  period,  Crustacea  of  the,  10-12 

—  brachiopods  of  the,  12,  13 

—  fishes  of  the,  13 

Silver,  discoveries  of  lodes  of,  248 

—  antiquity  of  the  discovery  of,  297 

—  most  ancient  silver  mines,  298 

—  European  silver-fields,  299,  300 

—  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  300-314 

—  mode  of  crushing  and  decomposing  the 

ores,  306-307 

—  law  of  Peru  respecting  the  silver  mines, 

311 

—  mines  of  Chili  and  Nevada,  313,  314 
Singapore,  antimony  of,  383 
Siphnos,  ancient  silver  mines  of,  298 


STA 

Siphon,  principle  of  a,  44  note 

Siphonia  costata,  fossil,  16 

Sioa,  constant  state  of  eruption  of  the 
volcano  of,  63 

Sivatherium  giganteum,  size  and  charac- 
teristics of,  27,  28 

Skaptar  Jokul,  in  Iceland,  lava-stream  of 
the  eruption  of,  in  1783,  70 

—  that  of  1787,  75 

Skerries,  water-spouts  or  fountains  of  the, 

146 
Slate  quarries  of  North  Wales,  469 
Smeaton,  John,  his  improvements  in  iron 

manufacture,  350 
Sodium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  388 
Solway  Moss,  appearance  and  area  of  the, 

130 

—  bursting  of  the,  130,  131 
Sommatino,  conflagration  of  the  solfatera 

of,  443 
Somme,  flint  implements  of  the  Valley  of 

the,  230,  231 
Spain,  gold  coins  of  the  Visigoths  of,  287 

—  auriferous  land  of,  288 

—  ancient  silver  mines  of,  298 

—  tin  mines  of,  336 

—  iron  industry  of,  361 

—  lead  mines  of,  365 

—  coal-fields  of,  423 

—  cupriferous  pyrites  of,  447 
Spartacus,  revolt  of,  82 

—  his  defeat  of  Clodius  at  Vesuvius,  82 
Speerenberg,  deposit  of  salt  at,  439 
Sphenopteris  affinis,  391 

Spider,  eyeless,  of  the  Cave  of  Adelsberg, 

163 
Spinel,  the,  490 
Spirifer  princeps,  12 
Spiriferidre,  13 

Sponges,  fossil,  of  the  primitive  seas,  16 
Springs,  always  warmer  than  the  air  in 

the    locality  where    they   gush   forth, 

32 

—  hydrostatic  laws  regarding  the  flow  of, 

40-42 

—  temperature  of  the  water  of,  43 

—  geological   phenomena   favouring  the 

production  of  thermal  springs,  43 

—  mineral  particles  in  springs,  43,  44 

—  intermittent  springs,  44 

—  geysirs  of  Iceland.  45-48 

—  Artesian  wells,  48-52 

—  carbonic  acid  gas  springs,  88-90 

—  of  carburetted  hydrogen,  90-93 
Staffordshire,  burning  mines  of,  283 

—  the  Burning  Hill  of,  283,  284 

Stag,  Professor   Owen's  skeleton  of  the 

primeval,  217 
Stalactites  and  stalagmites,  formation  of, 

139,  140 

—  their  varieties  of  form  and  slow  for- 

mation, 140 


INDEX. 


519 


STA 

Stalactites  and  stalagmites — continued. 

—  Dr.  Schmidl's  *  Stalactital  Paradise,' 
152 

—  in  the  Cave  of  Guacharo,  162 

—  of  the  Cave  of  Melidoni,  176 

—  in    the    Norwegian   copper    mine    of 

Roraas,  325 

Stalita  tsenaria,  the  eyeless  cavern  spider, 
163,  164 

Stamping-mill  in  the  silver  mines  of 
Mexico,  306 

Star  fish,  of  the  Chalk  group,  18 

Stassfurt,  mines  of,  438 

Steam,  important  part  played  by,  in  vol- 
canic phenomena,  41 

Steam-jets,  or  fumaroles,  of  volcanoes,  63 

—  those   of  the   eruption  of  Jorullo  in 

1759,  seen  in  1803,  74 
Stephenson,  George,  a  coal-trapper  in  life, 

419 
Stikeen,  gold-fields  of,  293 
Stockton-on-Tees,  export  of  coal  from,  413 
Stoke,  in  Worcestershire,  salt  mines  of, 

432 
Stone  implements  of  Denmark,  222 

—  of  the  Brixham  caverns,  227 

—  of  the  Valley  of  the  Somme,  230 
Stromboli,  diameter  of  the  crater  of,  54 

—  constant  activity  of  the  volcano  of,  62 

—  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope's  description  of  it, 

62 
Stromeyer,  his  discovery  of  cadmium,  386 
Strontian,  in  Argyleshire,  lead  mines  of, 

366 
Styria,  iron  of,  358 

Subiaco,  St.  Benedict's  Cave  near,  180 
Suffioni  of  the  Florentine  lagoons,  460 
Sulphur  of  the  mines  of  Sicily,  441 

—  exports  of,  443 

—  conflagration  of  a  sulphur  mine,  443 

—  mines  of  Ternel  and  Lorca,  444 

—  combinations  of  sulphur  with  metals, 

447 
Sumatra,  deposits  of  tinstone  in,  335 
Sunderland,  export  of  coal  from,  413 
Superior,  Lake,  copper  scattered  near  the 
shore  of,  325,  327 

—  ancient  copper  mines  near,  327 
Surtshellir,  in  Iceland,  formation  of  the, 

148 
Sutherland,  gold-fields  of,  293 
Swallows,  cave-haunting,  160 
Swansea,  copper-works  of,  320,  321 
Sweden,  effect  of  the  great  earthquake  of 

1755  in,  118 

—  mode  of  descending  mines  in,  264 

—  copper  mines  of,  322 
Swifts,  cave-haunting,  160 
Switzerland,  subterranean  relics  of  pre- 
historic man  in,  223 

—  ancient  iron  implements  found  in,  347 
Swoszwice,  sulphur  mines  of,  444 


TIN 

Syene,  rock-hewn  cemeteries  of,  205 
Syracuse,  catacombs  of,  210 

—  city  of,  475 

—  the  Latomise  of,  475 

Syria,  earthquakes  of,  in  the  reign  of 
Tiberius,  97,  100 

Syout,  in  Upper  Egypt,  rock-hewn  ceme- 
teries of,  205 


TAGILSK,  Nishne,  platinum  of,  382 
Taman,  mud-volcanoes  of  the  penin- 
sula of,  93,  95 
Tamelhat,  in  Algeria,  Artesian  well  at,  51 
Tangiers,   effects   of  an  earthquake   sea- 
wave  in,  118 
Tap  cinders  of  the  iron  puddling  furnaces, 

355 
Tasmania,  coal-fields  of,  424 
Tauretunum,  Roman  town  of,  destroyed 

by  a  landslip,  127 
Tees,  importance  of  the  river,  407 
Teir,  Djebel,  height  of  the  volcano  of,  54 
Temboro,  cone  of  the  volcano  of,  blown 

to  pieces,  67 
Temenitz,    engulfment  and  reappearance 

of  the  river,  1 50 
Temples,  rock,  of  India,  181 
Teneriffe,  Peak  of,  shape  of  the,  53 

—  ice-caves  of,  198 

—  solfatara  of  the,  445 

Tenger,  Gunong,  in  Java,  diameter  of  the 

crater  of  the  volcano  of,  54 
Terebratulse  of  the  Silurian  seas,  1 3 

—  hastata,  fossils  of,  15 
Ternel,  sulphur  mine  of,  444 
Terni,  iEolian  caverns  of,  198 
Terramiova,  effects  of  an  earthquake  at,  98 
Terreros,  Don  Pedro,  his  silver  mine  of 

La  Regla,  304 
Tertiary  period,  mammalia  of  the,  23 
Thallium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  388 
Thaur,   Mount,    Mahomet's   refuge   in  a 

cave  of,  169 

—  Moslem  miracle  of,  169 
Thebes,  hermits  in  the  desert  of,  179 

—  the  royal  tombs  of,  202-204 
Themud,  rock  city  of  the,  236 

—  legendary  tale  respecting  the,  236 
Thomson,  Dr.,  his  cave  explorations  in 

New  Zealand,  218-220 
Tin,  antiquity  of  the  knowledge  of,  332 

—  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  332 

—  Phoenician  trade  in,  333 

—  uses  and  importance  of,  334 

—  the  two  ores  of  tin,  335 

—  lodes  of  Cornwall,  337 

—  number  of  mines  in  Devon  and  Corn- 

wall at  work,  338 

—  smelting  of  tin,  342 

—  number  and  wages  of  the  miners,  343 

—  nature  of  the  miner's  work,  343 


520 


1KDEX. 


TIN 

Tin-foil,  334 

Tino,  island  of,  Rosso  antico,  467 

Titanium,  or  rutile,  discovery  and  uses  of, 
386,  387 

Titus,  the  Emperor,  his  benevolence  to 
the  survivors  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii,  85 

Tjerimai,  Gunong,  in  Java,  extinct  vol- 
cano of,  55 

—  its  height  and  depth,  55 
Tlalpujahua,  silver  mine  of,  305 
Toeplitz,  hot  springs  of,  43 

Tofua,  constant  activity  of  the  volcano 
of,  63 

—  lake  formed  in  the  crater  of  the  ex- 

tinct volcano  of,  57 
Tolfa,  manufacture  of  alum  at,  458 
Tombs,  rock-hewn,  202 
Topaz,  the,  493 
Toplitz,  effect  of  the  Lisbon  earthquake 

of  1755  on  the  mineral  waters  of,  118 
Torgatten,  in  Norway,  natural  tunnel  of 

the  grotto  of,  134 
Trajan,  the  Emperor,  in  an  earthquake  at 

Antioch,  97 
Transbaikalia,  iron  of,  357 
Transgariep  country,  cannibal  caverns  of 

the,  234 
Transylvania,  iron  of,  358 

—  salt  mines  of,  436 

Travers,  Val  de,  asphalte  mine  of  the,  428 
Trebich  Cave,  near  Trieste,  134 
Tresavean  Copper  Mine,  wealth  of,  329 

—  tin  mine,  337 

Treviso,  three  villages   of,   buried  by   a 

landslip  of  the  Piz  Mountain,  127 
Triassic  rocks,  their  thickness,  2 
• —  fossils  of  the,  22 
Trilobites,  10,  11 

—  eye  of,  magnified,  11 

—  gradually  vanish  in  the  Carboniferous 

period,  14 
Trinidad,  mud  volcanoes  of,  93,  94 
Trinidad,  the  great  Pitch  Lake  of,  428 

—  the  black  pines  of,  429 

Tripolite,  its  composition  and  uses,  463 
Troglodytes,  or  dwellers  in  caves,  232 
Trophonios,  Cave  of,  187 

—  visitors  to  the  cave  for  information, 

188 
Trou-aux-Moutons,  vast  ice-cave   of  the 

Rothhorn,  194,  195 
Tschudi,  silver  ornaments  of  the,  298 
Tuileries,   principle   on  which  the  grand 

fountain  of  the,  is  supplied,  42 
Tungstate  of  soda,  uses  of,  385 
Tungsten,  discovery  of,  384 

—  uses  of,  385 
Tunnels,  natural,  113,  34 

Turks,  their  atrocities  in  modern  war- 
fare, 176 

—  their  use  of  amber  in  pipes,  456 


VES 

Turquoise,  the,  493 

Turrilites  tuberculatus,  19 

Tuscany,  suffioni  of  the  lagoons  of,  460 

Tyne,  importance  of  the  river,  407 

—  shipping  coal  on  the  banks  of  the,  41 1, 

412 
Tynemouth  Priory,  view  from  the,  414 


TTBES,   St.,  nearly    destroyed    by    an 
U      earthquake  sea- wave,  117 
United  States  of  America,  copper  mines 

of,  328,  329 
Upheavals,  subterranean,  34 

—  taking  place  at  the  present  day,  34 

—  slow  elevation  of  the  land  in  Sweden, 

35 

—  and  in  other  places.  35,  36 

—  marks  chiselled  on  the  Swedish  rocks, 

37 

—  probable  causes  of,  38 
Upsala,  iron  manufacture  of,  360 

—  the  old  city  of,  and  the  burial-places 

of  Odin,  Thor,  and  Freya,  360 
Ural,  or   Oural,  Mountains,  the  iron  of 
the,  357 

—  copper  mines  of  the,  326 
Uranium,  discovery  and  uses  of,  385 


YALENCIANA,  Conde  de,  his  silver 
mine  and  fortune,  302,  304 

Valenciennes,  depth  of  the  coal  mines  of, 
247 

Valentinus,  Basilius,  his  mention  of  anti- 
mony, 383 

Valdivia,  extent  of  wave-motion  of  an 
earthquake  at,  105,  106 

Valparaiso,  upheaval  of  the  land  at,  34 

Valparaiso,  copper  mines  of,  326 

Vaucluse,  celebrated  fountain  of,  149 

Vegetation,  subterranean,  157 

—  mushrooms  or  fungi,  157 

Velleja,    Roman   town   of,   buried   by  a 

landslip,  127 
Venetian  gold  coins,  287 
Ventriculites,  fossil,  16 
Verde  antico,  467 
Vesuvius,  its   long  period   of  rest,    and 

resumption  of  its  activity,  58 

—  the  lava-stream    of  the    eruption    of 

1822,  70 

—  lava-fountains     of    the     eruption    of 

1794,  72 

—  advance  of  a  lava-stream  into  the  sea 

near  Torre  del  Greco,  73 

—  vast  dimensions  of  the  lava-stream  of, 

75 

—  state  of   the  volcano  previous   to  the 

eruption  of  79  a. a,  81 

—  first  indication  of  the  catastrophe,  82 

—  account  of  Pliny  the  Younger,  85 


INDEX. 


521 


VET 

Veta  madre,  silver  mine  of,  247,  301 
Victoria,  colony  of,  290 

—  gold-fields  of,  294 

Villaroel,   Don  Jose,  his    silver   mine  of 

the  Cerro  di  Potosi,  309 
Vincent,  Island  of,  volcanic  eruption  on 

the,  66 

—  disappearance  of  a  mountain  at,  68 
Virgil,  tomb  of,  242 

—  belief  in  his  incantations,  242 
Visigoths   of    Spain,    their    gold    coins, 

287 
Vivarrais,  carbonic  acid  gas  springs  of  the, 

88 
Vivian's  copper^works  at  Swansea,  321 
Volcanoes,  heat  required  for  the  produc- 
tion of  the  lava  of,  33 

—  extent  of  the  action  of,  33 

—  important   part  played   by   steam   in 

volcanic  phenomena,  41 

—  extinct  and  active  volcanoes,  53 

• —  their  shapes  and  heights,  53,  54 

—  their  craters,  54 

—  desolation  near  them,  54 

—  dimensions    and     depths    of    various 

craters,  54 
■ —  dangers   of    crater    explorations,    55, 
56 

—  lakes   in  the  craters  of  extinct   vol- 

canoes, 57 

—  line    of  demarcation   between   active 

and  extinct  volcanoes,  58 

—  volcanoes  still  constantly  forming,  58 

—  submarine  volcanoes,  59 

—  formation  of  volcanic  islands,  59 

—  number  of  known  volcanoes,  60 

—  unequal  distribution  of,  61 

—  in  a  constant  state  of  activity,  61,  62 

—  steam-jets,  or  fumaroles,  63,  74 

—  phenomena  of  volcanic  eruption,  65 

—  stones  and  ashes  thrown  out,  66 

—  explosion  of  cones,  67 

■ —  disastrous  effects   of  showers  of  sand, 
pumice,  and  lapilli,  68 

—  mud-streams  formed,  69 

—  torrents  formed  by  melted  snow,  69 

—  formation  of  fiery   streams  of  liquid 

lava,  70 

—  parasitic  cones  of  eruption,  70 

—  wooded  volcanic  craters,  71 

—  phenomena    attending   the  flow  of  a 

lava-stream,  72,  73 

—  effect  of  the  meeting  of  lava  and  the 

sea,  73 
■ —  and  of  lava  and  ice,  74 
■ —  vast  dimensions  of  lava-streams,   75, 

76 

—  waste  of  desolation  in  lava-fields,  77 

—  considered  as  safety-valves,  78,  79 
■ —  probable  causes  of,    79,  80 

—  destruction  of  Herculancum  and  Pom- 

peii, 81-87 


WAT 

Volcanoes — continued. 

—  mud-volcanoes,  93-96 

—  formation  of  volcanic  caves,  146-148 
Volterra,  alabaster  of,  468 

Vultur,  Mount,  beauty  of  the  forest 
scenery  around  the  extinct  craters  of, 
57 


WALES,   auriferous   veins    found    in, 
293 

—  lead  mines  of,  366 

—  time  required  for  the  formation  of  the 

coal-fields  of  South,  397 

—  their  superficial  extent,  405 

—  the  coal-fields  of  North,  403 

—  total  number   of  pits  in   the   South, 

406 

—  slate  quarries  of  North,  469 

—  New  South,  copper  mines  of,  329 

—  coal-fields  of,  424 

Walker  colliery,  on  the  Tyne,  disaster  in, 

prevented,  282 
Wallsend  colliery,  drowned,  273 

—  attempt  made  to  work  a  part  of  it, 

278 
Wanlockhead,  lead  mines  at,  366 
Warburton,  his  description  of  the  rock- 
temple  of  Ipsamboul,  184-186 

—  his  visit  to  the  tombs  of  the  Pharaohs 

at  Thebes,  202-204 
Wash,   evidences    of  subsidence    of    the 

land  on  the  shores  of  the,  37 
Washoe  silver  mine,  314 
Water,  its  eternal  strife  with  fire,  1 ,  2 

—  the  waters  of  the    Cambrian   or   Si- 

lurian ocean,  11 

—  filtered  and  made  pure  by  the  earth, 

40 

—  temperature  of  the  water  of  springs, 

43 

—  subterranean  distribution  of  the  waters, 

39 

—  hydrostatic  laws  regarding  the  flow  of 

springs,  40,  41 

—  Bunsen's  theory  of  the  Geysirs,  47 

—  geological   phenomena   favouring  the 

production  of  thermal  springs,  43 

—  geysirs  of  Iceland,  45-48 

—  Artesian  wells,  48-52 

—  effect  of  the  meeting  of  a  lava-stream 

and  the  sea,  73 

—  movements  of  the  sea  in  earthquakes, 

107 

—  action  of  water  in  limestone  caves,  138 

139 

—  and  in  forming  marine  caves,  142 
Water-spouts  of  caverns  in  the  Skerries, 

146 

—  in  mines,  269 

—  modes  of  draining,  269 
Waterfall,  a  subterranean,  153 


522 


INDEX. 


Watt,  James,  his  invention  and   its  im- 
portance in  iron  manufacture,  351 
Wear,  importance  of  the  river,  407 
Wermland,  iron  manufacture  of,  360 
Westphalia,  coal-fields  of,  405 
Wheal  Cock,  copper  mine  of,  319 
Wheal,  Edward,  Cornish  copper  mine  of, 

319 
Wheal  Vor,  rise  and  fall  of  the  tin  mine 

of,  339 
Whitehaven    coal-basin,    extent   of  the, 
407 

—  excavations    under    the   sea    at   the, 

410 
White-lead  manufacture  of  the  Brohl,  89 
White-lead,  how  made,  365 
Wicklow,  lead  mines  of,  366 

—  iron  pyrites  of,  447 

Wielitzka,  salt  mines  of,  262,  433-435 

—  method  of  descending  the,  263 

—  accident  in  the,  435 
Wiesbaden,  hot  springs  of,  43 
Wind-grottoes,  198-200 

—  fables  respecting,  199 

Wirks worth,  ossiferous  caves  of,  215,  216 
Wissokaja  Gora,  the  magnetic  mountain 

of,  357 
Wolfram,  discovery  of,  384 
Wollaston,  his  discovery  of  palladium,  388 

—  and  of  rhodium,  388 

Wood,  Colonel,  his  discovery  of  a  bone- 
cave  at  Grower,  228 
Workington  Colliery,  drowned,  274 
Worship,  subterranean  places  of,  181-183 
Worsley,     in    Lancashire,    subterranean 
canals  in,  263 


ZWI 

YEEEMALIK,   massacre    by  Genghi 
Khan  in  the  cave  of,  172,  173 

—  visit  to  the  cave,  173 

—  as  a  natural  ice -cave,  197 
York,  New,  copper  mines  of,  328 
Yorkshire,  lead  mines  of,  366 


ZACATECAS,  silver  mine  of,  302 
Zealand,  New,  effects  of  the  earth- 
quake of  1855  in  upraising  land,  111 

—  maare,  or  crateriform  hollows  of,  132 

—  the  Apteryx  australis  of,  216 

—  the  gigantic  Moa  of,  216,  217 

—  Professor  Owen's  memoir  and  skeleton 

of  the  bird,  217 

—  ossiferous  caves  of  the  country,  218 

—  gold-fields  of,  293 

—  vegetation  of,  similar   to   that  of  the 

coal-fields,  395 

—  coal-fields  of,  424 

Zellerfeld,  great  adit  levels  of  the  mines 

of,  270 
Zepeda,  Don  Barnebe  de,  his  discovery  of 

the  silver  vein  of  Catorce,  303 
Zeus,  Olympian,  Phidias'  ivory  and  gold 

statue  of,  286 
Zinc,  not  known  to  the  ancients,  380 

—  production  of,  380,  381 

—  the  chief  zinc-producing  countries,  381, 

382 
Zircon,  the,  492 
Zoroaster,    religion    of,  restored  by   the 

Sassanides  of  Persia,  92 
Zwickau,  in  Saxony,  burning  mine  at,  283 


LONDON  :     PRINTED    BT 

SPOTTISWOODK     AND    CO.,     NKW-STRKET     SQUARE 

AND    PARLIAMENT    STREET 


Works  by  the  same  Author. 


THE   SEA  AND    ITS    LIVING  WONDERS.    With 

several  hundred  Wood  Engravings ;  and  an  entirely  New  Series  of  Illustrations  in  Chromo- 
xylography,  representing  the  most  Interesting  Objects  described  in  the  Work,  from  Original 
Drawings  by  Henry  Noel  Humphreys.    Third  English  Copyright  Edition.     8vo.  price  21*. 


•  Dr.  Hartwig's  volume  is  a  perfect  model  of  the 
popular  treatment  of  a  large  subject.  It  is  at  once 
full,  clear,  concise,  and  attractive  ;  and  it  possesses 
the  merit,  absolutely  unique  as  far  as  our  experience 
goes  in  works  of  this  kind,  of  being  readable  from 
end  to  end.  Though  closely  packed  with  details— 
sufficiently  so  indeed  to  be  a  good,  though  of  course 
not  an  exhaustive,  book  of  reference  for  practical 
use— these  are  so  well  selected  and  arranged,  so 
concisely  related,  and  so  carefully  subordinated  to 
general  views,  that  they  never  produce  any  sensation 
of  weariness,  monotony,  or  confusion.  There  are 
some  admirable  chromoxylographs,  and  an  infini- 
tude of  excellent  woodcuts  scattered  up  and  down 
the  pages  with  a  profuse  hand.  In  short,  the  Sea  has 
received  from  Dr.  Hartwig  a  recommendation  to 
public  attention  which  can  scarcely  perhaps  increase 
its  popularity,  but  which  will  certainly  enable  many 
of  its  admirers  to  regard  it  with  a  more  enlarged 
and  intelligent  admiration.  The  title,  large  as  it  is, 
does  the  work  some  injustice,  for  we  are  apt  to 
forget  the  Sea  itself  in  the  Living  Wonders  which  it 
nourishes ;  and  we  scarcely  include,  in  our  con- 
ception of  life,  the  vegetation  of  the  ocean.  This, 
however,  is  no  fault  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  ;  for  he  fairly 
exhausts  his  subject.  The  first  seventy  pages  are 
devoted  to  a  very  clear  account  of  the  general 
features  of  the  sea.  Its  extent  and  depth  and  colour, 
its  coast-line  and  currents,  the  height  and  velocity 
of  its  waves,  the  theory  of  its  tides,  the  mighty 
circulation  whereby  the  life-currents  of  the  earth 
rise  in  evaporation  from  the  ocean  surface,  are  dis- 
persed through  the  upper  regions  of  the  air,  are 
condensed  in  rain,  and,  trickling  through  the  soil, 
return  in  rivers  to  their  native  reservoir,  are  all  set 
forth  with  great  skill  and  beauty  of  language.  Dr. 
Hartwio  then  passes  on  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
sea.  First  come  the  "  hugest  of  living  things,"  tho 
Cetaceans,  with  their  kindred  the  seals  and  wal- 
ruses—animals which  in  their  anatomy  and  habits 
form  a  curious  link  between  the  tribes  of  earth  and 


water,  and  in  their  vast  size  and  outlandish  forma 
seem,  at  least  in  fancy,  to  connect  the  present  age 
with  distant  geological  periods.  .  .  .  Penguins  and 
auks  and  albatrosses  next  come  under  our  notice : 
then  turtles,  the  only  modern  representatives  of 
the  ancient  saurians ;  then  follows  a  description  of 
many  of  the  more  curious  fishes— among  which  we 
notice  some  singular  creatures  with  fins  and  tail3 
and  gills,  which  can  not  only  live  for  days  out  of 
water,  but  actually  creep  up  trees  and  catch  insects. 
Crabs  and  barnacles,  worms  and  molluscs,  star- 
fishes, sea-urchins,  coral-polyps,  and  our  familiar 
friends  the  sea-anemones,  all  come  in  for  their  fair 
share  of  attention.  Even  the  microscopic  forami- 
nifera  and  diatomaceae  are  included  :  one  chapter  ia 
given  to  marine  plants,  and  another  to  the  primitive 
ocean  ;  while  the  whole  is  appropriately  closed  with 
a  brief  sketch  of  the  progress  of  maritime  discovery. 
And  all  this  is  packed  into  an  elegant  volume  of 
400  pages.  Never,  surely,  was  such  a  mine  of  infor- 
mation presented  in  so  pleasing  a  shape.  Dr. 
Hartwio  has  skimmed  the  very  cream  of  marine 
science,  and  thrown  all  its  daintiest  morsels  into  a 
single  attractive  dish.'     Guardian,  First  Notice. 

•This  is  the  third  edition,  considerably  enlarged, 
of  the  first  and  best  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  beautiful  and 
popular  volumes  on  natural  history.  The  size  of 
the  book  is  increased  by  a  hundred  pages  ;  a  good 
deal  of  it  is  remoulded ;  two  whole  new  chapters 
have  been  added,  one  on  Marine  Caves,  the  other  on 
Marine  Constructions,  such  as  Lighthouses  and 
Breakwaters  ;  some  of  the  old  illustrations  have 
disappeared,  but  their  place  has  been  supplied  by 
more  and  better;  so  that  the  new  edition  really 
amounts  to  a  recasting  of  the  entire  book.  It  was  a 
very  good  book  before  ;  it  is  better  and  more 
complete  now.  Whether  we  regard  the  letterpress 
or  the  numerous  illustrations,  it  takes  a  rank  second 
to  none  among  ornamental  and  popular  books  of 
science.'  Guardian,  Second  Notice. 


THE   T  R  O  P I C A  L  WO  R  L  D  :    a  Popular  Scientific  Account  of 

the  Natural  History  of  the  Animal  and  Vegetable  Kingdoms  and  the  Equatorial  Regions.    With 
8  Chromoxylographic  Plates  and  about  800  Woodcuts.    8vo.  price  21s. 


*  This  work  well  deserves  popularity,  and  Is  just 
the  book  to  interest  young  persons  who  have  the 
sense  to  perceive  that  the  truths  of  nature  are  not 
only  stranger  but  far  more  profitable  than  some 
fictions.  All  that  intelligent  women  and  children 
desire  to  know  about  the  tropics  will  be  found 
here— the  aspects  of  nature,  the  rivers  and  coasts, 
the  great  sandy  deserts,  the  gigantic  vegetation, 
and  the  animal  denizens  from  insects  to  apes  ;  but 
excluding  the  tropical  varieties  of  man.' 

Medical  Times  and  Gazette. 

'Dr.  Hartwig  has  followed  up  his  admirable 
book  on  the  Sea  by  another,  not  less  admirable,  on 
the  Tropical  World.  The  same  wide  erudition,  vivid 
powers  of  description,  and  happy  intermixture  of 
popular  and  scientific  treatment  are  displayed  in  it ; 
and  its  pages  are  adorned  by  the  same  profusion  of 
elegant  illustration.  Within  the  tropics  Nature 
revels  in  her  wildest  luxuriance:  bird,  beast, 
reptile,  and  plant  take  there  strange  forms  and 
colours,  or  attain  unusual  magnitude.  Dr.  Hartwig 
has  steeped  his  pen  in  the  glowing  atmosphere  of 
the  tropics;  and  with  it,  as  with  a  wand,  he  leads 
us  through  successive  regions  of  a  sunny  fairyland 
teeming  with  beautiful  natural  objects  in  inex- 
haustible variety,  changeful  and  brilliant  as  the 
effulgent  landscapes  amid  which  they  flourish.' 

Guardian. 

•The  tropics  give  us  something  like  a  picture  of 
the  antediluvian  world.  The  heat  and  moisture, 
with  the  consequent  luxuriance  of  vegetation  in 
tangled  overgrowth,  the  violence  of  the  storms,  and 
the  ferocity  and  hideousness  of  many  animal  forms, 
mark  out  these  equatorial  regions  as  very  striking, 
very  picturesque,  very  interesting,  but  not  very 


agreeable  as  a  residence.  Unless  we  are  young, 
robust,  and  adventurous,  it  is  pleasanter  to  read  of 
such  regions  in  our  milder  Europe,  and  to  visit  them 
in  imagination,  following  the  adventures  of  others. 
And  this  journey  Dr.  Hartwig  enables  us  to  make 
through  his  excellent  compilation.  .  .  .  We  have 
indicated  the  nature  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  book,  and 
have  only  to  add  that  it  is  compiled  with  great  skill, 
and  written  in  a  clear  and  agreeable  style.  It  is 
seldom  that  we  have  occasion  to  notice  a  more 
satisfactory  work  of  the  class  to  which  it  belongs.' 
Saturday  Review. 
'  We  ought  not  to  conclude  these  gleanings  with- 
out a  brief  notice  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  popular  book. 
There  are  those  who  look  with  contempt  on  popular 
science  of  all  kinds,  and  regard  with  undisguised 
aversion  such  compilations  as  the  one  before  us. 
We  do  not  share  these  feelings  in  the  least  degree  ; 
on  the  contrary,  we  welcome  most  heartily  such 
introductions  to  the  study  of  natural  history. 
True,  they  may  be  sometimes  of  little  scientific 
value,  but  they  are  very  useful  stepping-stones  to 
something  more  solid.  They  are  more  especially 
intended  for  the  young,  but  those  of  mature  years 
may  derive  much  profit  by  a  perusal  of  many  of 
these  works,  and  even  the  naturalist  may  read  them 
with  pleasure  and  instruction.  The  numerous 
beautifully  illustrated  and  carefully  compiled  works 
on  natural  history,  such  as  the  Tropical  World, 
together  with  the  Sea  ayid  its  Living  Wonders,  by  the 
same  writer,  and  several  others  which  have  appeared 
within  the  last  few  years,  are  an  encouraging  sign  of 
the  growing  interest  which  the  rising  generation 
takes  in  the  study  of  the  great  Creator's  works, 
and  we  heartily  wish  them  Godspeed.' 

Quarterly  Review. 


London  :    LONGMANS  and  CO.  Paternoster  Row. 


Works  by  the  same  Author. 

THE    HARMONIES    OF    NATURE, 

OR    THE    UNITY    OF    CREATION. 

With  8  full-page  Engravings  on  Wood,  from  Original  Designs  by 
F.  W.  Keyl,  and  about  200  Woodcuts  in  the  Text. 

8vo.  price  18s. 


'  As  a  sort  of  abridged  Kosmos  brought  down 
so  as  to  include  the  latest  discoveries  of  science, 
Dr.  Hart  wig's  Harmonies  of  Nature  is  admirable 
for  the  view  it  gives  of  the  order  of  nature  as  we 
can  at  present  conceive  it.  Such  a  work  enlarges 
and  clears  our  conception  of  the  universe,  and 
we  can  heartily  commend  both  the  ability  with 
which  the  facts  are  elucidated  and  the  reveren- 
tial spirit  with  which  they  are  treated.'  Globe. 

4  Dr.  Hartwig's  book  at  first  looks  like  a  sys- 
tem of  natural  history  :  it  swarms  with  woodcuts 
of  zoology  and  comparative  anatomy.  But  it 
properly  belongs  to  general  psychology ;  for  its 
object  is  comparison  and  deduction,  and  a  view 
of  the  chain  of  being,  which  ....  after  some 
general  cosmogony,  begins  at  the  lowest  phases 

of  vegetable  life  and  ends  with  man The 

book  is  very  interesting,  and  fills  a  very  useful 
place.'  Athenaeum. 

'  The  nature  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  Harmonies  of 
Nature  will  perhaps  be  better  understood  if  we 
call  it  a  popularised  Kosmos.  Beginning  with 
the  starry  heavens,  the  Author  leads  us  through 
air  and  ocean,  and  shows  in  broad  outline  how 
material  nature  is  adapted  to  the  organic  life 
which  fills  it-  He  then  traces  out  the  ascending 
grades  of  organic  life  itself  from  plants  to  sponges 
and  jelly-fishes,  and  from  them  up  through  mol- 


luscs, insects,  fishes,  birds,  and  mammals,  to  man 
himself,  the  crown  of  all.  This  great  outline  is 
filled  up  with  sufficient  detail  to  give  it  substance 
and  interest.  It  is  traced  with  a  flowing  and  ex- 
pressive pen,  and  illustrated  by  an  elegant  and 
abundant  pencil.  Those  who  have  seen  Dr. 
Hartwig's  former  works  will  be  satisfied  to 
know  that  this  is  no  unworthy  companion  to 
them.'  Guardian. 

'  The  Harmonies  of  Nature  will  add  to  its 
Author's  well-deserved  reputation  as  the  most 
correct  and  philosophic  as  well  as  the  most  en- 
tertaining v .-riter  of  the  day  on  popular  natural 
history.  Unlike  most  of  the  compilers  of  this 
class  of  works,  Dr.  Hartwig  has  a  very  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  his  subject,  a  knowledge  suffi- 
cient to  enable  him  to  present  to  his  readers  a 
well-arranged  work,  that  may  be  read  with  profit 
as  well  as  with  pleasure.  The  object  of  the  work 
is  to  point  out  and  illustrate  the  unity  of  plan 
which  prevails  throughout  creation Com- 
pared with  the  popular  natural  histories  current 
in  France  and  England,  the  works  of  Dr.  Hart- 
wig  are  of  much  higher  excellence  ;  and  for  those 
readers  who  desire  to  know  something  about 
physical  science  without  becoming  painful  and 
diligent  students, no  volume  can  be  recommended 
as  more  delightful  than  the  Harmonies  of  Na- 
ture.'                                                   The  Field. 


THE    POLAR    WORLD 


A    POPULAR    DESCRIPTION     OF    MAN    AND    NATURE    IN     THE    ARCTIC 
AND    ANTARCTIC    REGIONS    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

With  8  Chromoxylographic  Plates,  3  Maps,  and  85  Woodcuts. 
8vo.  price  21s. 


•  The  appearance  of  Dr.  Hartwig's  book  at 
this  time  is  very  opportune.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  public  attention  will  be 
directed  during  the  next  ten  or  fifteen  years  to 
the  Polar  regions  and  the  contemplated  expedi- 
tions to  them.  Whether  or  not  the  suggestions 
are  earned  out  which  were  made  at  the  recent 
meeting  of  the  Geographical  Society  for  an  edu- 
cating trial  trip  to  the  Arctic  coast,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  there  will  be  an  expedition  in  1881 
— 1882  for  the  purpose  of  observing  the  transit 
of  Venus  in  the  Antarctic  Seas.  Sabrina  Land 
and  Possession  Island  are  spoken  of  as  suitable 
stations  for  the  observations.  Most  readers 
would  have  to  refer  to  their  maps,  or  to  almost 
forgotten  books  of  Antarctic  travel  to  make 
themselves  acquainted  with  those  localities. 
Dr.  Hartwig's  volume  gives  maps,  description, 
and  history  of  all  that  is  known  concerning  these 

icy  regions  in  a  few  compendious  pages 

Like  Dr.  Hartwig's  former  works,  the  Polar 
World  is  a  model  of  interesting  and  authentic 


compilation.  Starting  from  Iceland,  he  takes 
us  round  the  lands  which  circle  about  the  North 
Pole,  describing  their  natural  features,  the  peo- 
ple who  inhabit  them,  the  birds,  beasts,  and 
fishes,  and  the  scanty  vegetation,  which  is  fre- 
quently little  more  than  varieties  of  mosses  and 
lichens.  The  same  plan  is  followed  in  the  regions 
of  the  South  Pole.  In  his  treatment  of  all  these 
subjects  the  Author  combines  the  qualities  of  a 
clever  historian,  a  well-informed  geographer,  and 
a  correct  naturalist.  Gathering  up  all  the  in- 
formation supplied  by  numerous  explorers,  he 
has  presented  to  us  the  result  in  a  beautifully 
illustrated  volume,  containing  a  clear,  concise, 
and  faithful  description  of  man  and  nature  in 
high  latitudes.  The  work  will  be  exceedingly 
useful  as  well  as  interesting  to  the  naturalist,  as 
nearly  every  chapter  in  it  contains  careful  ac- 
counts of  the  animals  peculiar  to  the  regions 

described The    Polar    World  will   add 

greatly  to  the  already  well-deserved  reputation 
of  the  Author.'  Land  and  Water. 


London:  LONGMANS  and  CO.  Paternoster  Row. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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